J6  Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016  with  funding  from 
Getty  Research  Institute 


https://archive.org/details/loanexhibitionofOOfogg 


A Loan  Exhibition 


of 

Early  Italian  Engravings 

(Intaglio) 


Fogg  Art  Museum 


Cambridge 

Harvard  University  Press 


lit  iMeiitffinaiif 

FRANCIS  BULLARD 
HARVARD  COLLEGE  — CLASS  OF  1886 
1862  — 191  3 


FRANCIS  BULLARD 


Leaver  of  Prints 

Francis  BULLARD,  who  died  in  Boston  on  February  6,  1913, 
will  long  be  remembered  as  the  first  American  print  collector 
whose  enthusiasm  in  his  chosen  field  took  the  form  of  an  in- 
sistence on  quality  of  impression.  This  is  not  the  place  to  speak  of 
Mr.  Bullard’s  characteristics  as  a man.  His  lovable  nature,  his  rare 
gentleness  and  charm  of  manner,  will,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  be  fittingly 
commemorated  by  others.  Here  it  is  best  to  dwell  only  on  his  love 
of  art. 

Although  a respecter  of  authority  and  tradition,  he  had  the  cour- 
age of  his  convictions,  and  exercised  his  individual  judgment  in  the 
selection  of  his  treasures.  Long  preoccupation  with  the  finest  original 
impressions  and  careful  study  of  the  subject  gave  Mr.  Bullard  an  inti- 
mate and  scholarly  knowledge  of  the  things  he  loved.  He  performed 
a singular  service  to  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston,  to  this  institu- 
tion, and  to  those  private  collectors  who  were  privileged  to  come 
under  his  influence,  by  his  high  standard  in  the  acquisition  of  only 
the  best.  In  his  striving  for  this  ideal,  he  found  a substitute  for  the 
adventure  of  modern  scientific  attribution  which  is  so  evident  a charm 
in  other  fields  of  collecting.  He  had  a passion  for  prints,  but  was 
free  from  the  weakness  of  the  average  collector  for  mere  quantity. 
There  seemed  to  him  no  excuse,  in  this  day  of  adequate  reproduc- 
tions for  purposes  of  study,  to  indulge  in  what  has  been  well  termed 
the  minor  virtue  of  completeness. 

His  selected  group  of  Durer  woodcuts,  in  impressions  of  extraor- 
dinary beauty,  bears  out  this  statement.  Had  be  been  content  with 
merely  satisfactory  impressions,  he  could  with  less  expenditure  of 
time  and  money  have  made  the  group  complete.  In  two  instances, 
to  be  sure,  he  enjoyed  the  good  fortune  of  combining  completeness 
with  quality  of  impression : in  his  unparalleled  set  of  Turner’s 

“Liber  Studiorum,”  and  in  the  remarkable  collection  of  Canaletto 
etchings,  presented  by  the  master  to  his  patron.  Consul  Smith. 


5 


While  his  Turners,  his  Diirer  and  Holbein  woodcuts,  and  his 
Goya  aquatints,  now  all  permanently  housed  in  the  well  arranged 
print  collection  of  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston,  are  evidences 
of  a catholic  taste  which  also  included  Rembrandt,  Canaletto,  and 
Whistler,  it  seemed  to  a number  of  his  friends  that  his  strongest 
interest  was  in  quattrocento  Italian  engravings.  These  brought  him 
closest  to  the  great  Italian  tradition;  into  intimate  contact  with  the 
genius  of  Pollaiuolo  and  Mantegna  and  their  precursors,  followers, 
and  imitators. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  which  he  be- 
friended in  many  ways,  chooses  to  offer  as  testimony  to  his  memory 
this  exhibition  of  Early  Italian  Engravings.  Rare  and  significant 
prints  of  the  character  now  shown  would  have  delighted  him  more 
than  those  of  any  other  period.  Happily  many  of  the  engravings  in 
this  exhibition  prove  Mr.  Bullard’s  power  of  selection  in  a difficult 
field,  for  a number  of  the  very  finest  are  of  his  own  choosing.  In 
any  case,  all  of  the  examples  now  on  view  would  have  appealed 
strongly  to  him,  as  it  is  hoped  they  may  to  students  and  to  a larger 
public. 

P.  J.  S. 


6 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


This  exhibition  has  been  arranged  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  As- 
sistant Director  of  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  and  the  Catalogue 
has  been  written  and  compiled  by  him,  with  the  help  of 
Miss  Laura  H.  Dudley,  Assistant  in  charge  of  Prints. 

Mr.  FitzRoy  Carrington,  Curator  of  Prints  in  the  Museum  of 
Fine  Arts,  Boston,  has  kindly  cooperated  in  giving  of  his  time  and 
experience  in  the  preparation  of  the  reproductions.  Professor  George 
H.  Chase  has  read  the  manuscript.  Mr,  George  Parker  Winship, 
Librarian  of  the  Widener  Collection,  has  offered  various  valuable 
suggestions. 

Particular  thanks  are  due  to  those  institutions  and  collectors 
whose  names  appear  beiov/  each  reproduction,  without  whose  friendly 
aid  this  exhibition  could  not  have  been  held.  Special  thanks  are  due 

to  Mr.  William  M.  Ivins,  Jr,,  of  New  York,  a member  of  the  Visiting 
Committee,  and  an  amateur  of  ripe  knowledge  in  this  field,  who  has 
generously  assisted  in  the  preparation  of  the  Catalogue,  as  he  has 
helped  others  so  frequently  on  similar  occasions. 

EDWARD  W.  FORBES, 

Director. 

Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 

Cambridge,  Massachusetts. 

November  i,  1915. 


7 


V 


INTRODUCTION 


Despite  its  many  and  inevitable  omissions  this  is  probably 
the  most  representative  exhibition  ever  held  in  this  country 
of  original  impressions  of  early  intaglio  Italian  engravings 
made  prior  to  the, crystallization  of  Italian  technique  by  the  prolific 
Marcantonio  Raimondi.  As  this  exhibition  covers  the  period  during 
which,  first,  the  silversmiths  and,  later,  the  professional  engravers 
were  accumulating  their,  working  traditions,  and  as  to  some  extent 
it  represents  the  casual  and  experimental  stages  of  the  art  in  Italy, 
a few  short  general  remarks  on  technique  are  here  inserted.  These, 
it  is  hoped,  will  assist  the  lay  reader  and  observer  more  -readily  to 
coordinate  the  technical  remarks  concerning  the  particular  prints 
exhibited,  which  are  contained  in  the  body  of  the  Catalogue.  In 
most  instances  such  remarks  are  freely  quoted  and  adapted  from 
Arthur  Mayger  Hind’s  “Catalogue  of  Early  Italian  Engravings” 
(British  Museum  1910).  _ ; 

. Although  there  were;  many  quattrocento  engravers-_  whose  -v/ork 
shows  great  sensitiveness  to- beauty,  there  were- during  .-this  period 
few  engravers  of;;  dominant.;  personality.  From- -the  hands- -of  those 
few -there  are -known  to  exist  but  a liriiited  number  of  plates'.  The 
reason  of  this  was  that  the  artists  of  prominence  did  not  have  to -eke 
out  their  incomes  with  the  graver.  The  use  of  the  graver  as  a familiar 
tool  was  relegated,  as  a rule,  to  men  of  secondary  rank.  Many  of 
these  hardly  rose  above  the  level  of  mere  artisans  who  ■ looked  to 
others  for  their  inspiration  and  designs,  and  yet  their  work  exercises 
a very  great  if  indefinable  fascination.  . The  earlier  work  indeed 
bears  few  or  no  evidences  of  having  come  from-  the  hands  of  any  well 
identified  men.  Such  work  is  usually  as  anonymous  in  fact  as  it  is 
in  signature.  The  earliest  engravings  are  evidently  of  the  work- 
shop variety,  executed  by  men  who  - had  been  trained  as  jewellers 
or  silversmiths.  Their  system  of  cutting  lines,  coupled  with  their 
fondness  for  elaborate  formal  ornament,  betrays  hands  practised 
upon  cup  and  ewer.-  The  same  mechanical  traits  and  system  of-, cut- 
ting— due  allowance  being  made  for  difference  of  period,  and  pre- 
vailing style  — is  to  be  noticed  in  many  of  .the-early  Am,eri-can  book- 


9 


plates  made  by  such  men  as  Revere  of  Boston  and  Maverick  of  New 
York,  whose  training  in  handicraft,  it  will  be  recalled,  was  also  re- 
ceived at  the  silversmith’s  bench. 

The  first  clearly  defined  step  in  the  art  of  engraving  in  the  XV 
century  in  Italy  was  the  development  of  the  so-called  fine  manner. 
This  represents  the  metal  workers’  attempt  to  evolve  a scheme  for 
laying  lines  which  should  enable  them  to  indicate  the  shading  in  de- 
signs boldly  copied  or  made  up  of  details  taken  from  drawings  or 
paintings  by  artists  of  the  dominant  school  of  painting,  and  the  re- 
sultant effect  is  not  very  different  from  that  of  wash  drawings. 

The  nielli  which  were  made  at  this  time,  often  charming  and 
always  of  especial  antiquarian  interest,  probably  should  be  considered 
as  little  more  than  by-products  of  the  silversmith’s  art,  rather  than 
as  engravings,  as  such.  This,  it  seems,  would  now  be  generally  con- 
ceded, were  it  not  that  for  many  years  historians,  following  the  lead 
of  Vasari,  saw  in  them  the  beginnings  of  engraving,  and  thus  gave  them 
a canonical  position  in  the  eyes  of  collectors  from  which  modern 
research  has  failed  to  eject  them. 

Following  the  fine  manner,  the  next  step  in  the  progress  of  the 
art  is  the  development  of  the  broad  manner.  In  this  the  engravers 
undertook  to  lay  their  shading  lines  in  the  same  way  that  the  artists 
did  when  working  with  pen  or  metal  point.  Pollaiuolo’s  great  master- 
piece (No.  25)  is  made  in  this  way,  and  still  shows  traces  of  the  silver- 
smith’s method  of  cutting.  In  the  engravings  by  the  hand  of  Man- 
tegna (Nos.  45-53),  the  broad  manner  is  seen  at  its  culminating  point. 
Here  the  silversmith  has  disappeared,  and  the  creative  artist  is  seen 
boldly  transferring  his  linear  method  to  the  copper  plate,  without 
alteration  or  compromise. 

During  Mantegna’s  time,  though  not  in  his  own  work,  the  influ- 
ence of  the  German  engravers  began  to  be  felt.  Many  of  the  best 
German  painters  had  for  economic  reasons  become  professional  en- 
gravers. As  such  they  had  worked  out  a linear  scheme  of  greater 
subtlety  than  any  that  their  humbler  Italian  brethren  in  the  craft 
had  attempted,  although,  as  was  natural,  it  was  based  upon  the  Ger- 
man calligraphic  method  of  pen  drawing.  This  influence  is  notice- 
able in  most  of  the  work  done  toward  the  end  of  the  XV  century. 
It  reaches  its  ascendency  just  at'  the  time  when  the  individual  en- 
gravers begin  to  emerge  from  the  anonymity  of  the  workshop.  It  is 
clearly  shown  in  the  later  work  of  such  men  as  Zoan  Andrea  and 
Jacopo  da  Barbari.  How  strong  this  northern  influence  came  to  be 


10 


is  perhaps  best  illustrated  by  the  well  authenticated  fact  that  Durer 
actually  had  to  go  to  law  to  prevent  Marcantonio  from  selling  for- 
geries of  his  works  as  originals.  But  notwithstanding  this  powerful 
northern  influence  there  were  Italian  experimenters  in  technique. 
The  most  striking  of  these,  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  adventurous, 
was  the  fascinating  Giulio  Campagnola.  His  technical  innovations 
bear  evidence  of  great  ingenuity.  His  work  varies  freely  from  the 
traditional  methods  then  in  vogue.  In  spite,  however,  of  the  refined 
beauty  of  his  dotted  work,^  exemplified  in  the  impressive  dignity  of 
his  austere  and  superb  St.  John  (No.  96),  the  technical  method  which 
he  used  in  this  and  other  works  of  rare  charm  was  not  emulated. 
The  German  fashion  prevailed.  In  fact  the  final  synthesis  of  the 
German  calligraphic  system  and  the  early  Italian  method  of  shading 
with  diagonal  parallel  lines  across  strongly  marked  outlines,  was  ac- 
complished by  Marcantonio,  whose  linear  scheme  became  the  normal 
Italian  ideal  of  engraving  technique;  the  idiom,  however  badly 
handled,  of  the  hundreds  of  engravers  who  in  succeeding  centuries 
filled  the  role  which  the  photographer  fills  to-day. 


* Flicked  work. 


LIST  OF  ABBREVIATIONS 


B.  . . 

Duch.  . 

H.  . . 

Ottley  . 


P. 


. Bartsch,  Adam  von.  Le  Peintre-Graveur.  Vienna  1803- 
21. 

. Duchesne,  Jean.  Essai  sur  les  Nielles.  Paris  1826. 

. Hind,  A.  M.  Catalogue  of  Early  Italian  Engravings. 
British  Museum  1910. 

. Ottley,  William  Young.  An  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  and 
Early  History  of  Engraving,  etc.  2 vols.  London 
1816. 

. Passavant,  J.  D.  Le  Peintre-Graveur.  Leipzig  1860-64. 


NOTES 

Measurements  of  the  impressions  shown  are  indicated  in  the  text 
of  the  Catalogue  in  millimetres,  below  the  title  of  each  print,  the 
height  being  given  first.  The  measurements  show  the  greatest  height 
and  width,  taken  from  the  plate-line. 

Watermarks  have  been  noted  when  possible.  References  are  to 
Hind’s  Catalogue,  and  to  Briquet,  C.  M.,  “Les  Filigranes,”  etc.  Paris 
1907. 


13 


GENERAL  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


For  the  best  general  bibliography  of  books  on  the  field  covered 
in  this  exhibition  and  published  prior  to  1910,  the  student 
may  be  referred  to  A.  M.  Hind’s  “Catalogue  of  Early  Italian 
Engravings,”  edited  by  Sir  Sidney  Colvin  (British  Museum,  1910), 
which  is  in  itself  the  most  comprehensive  and  authoritative  book  on 
the  subject.  It  also  contains,  on  pp.  xl-xliv,  bibliographies  on 
the  following  subjects;  Nielli;  Collections  and  Exhibitions;  Sale 
Catalogues;  and  Reproductions.  Scattered  through  Hind’s  catalogue, 
under  appropriate  headings,  will  be  found  most  excellent  special 
bibliographies  relating  to  particular  groups  of  prints  and  the__^works 
of  the  various  individual  masters.  Hind’s  work  is  not  confined  to 
the  remarkable  collection  of  originals  in  the  British  Museum,  but 
fully  describes  and  discusses  every  print  of  the  XV  and  early  XVI 
century  in  Italy  of  which  the  British  Museum  has  a reproduction,  so 
that  for  almost  all  purposes  his  catalogue  may  be  considered  as  a 
complete  resume  of  our  present  knowledge  covering  the  entire  field. 
It  is  understood  that  Dr.  Paul  Kristeller,  of  Berlin,  has  been  at  work 
for  many  years  on  a complete  critical  catalogue  of  all  known  early 
Italian  engravings,  which  when  it  appears  is  certain  to  be  one  of  the 
striking  landmarks  in  the  study  of  this  field. 

The  bibliography  which  follows  merely  aims  to  give  a selected 
list  of  the  most  important  general  books  to  date.  Many  of  these  are 
costly  or  not  easily  to  be  obtained,  although  the  great  majority  of 
them  will  probably  be  found  available  in  leading  American  libraries. 
Most  of  the  books  listed  may  be  consulted  during  the  exhibition, 
upon  application  at  the  desk.  Those  not  on  the  Fogg  Art  Museum 
shelves  may  be  consulted  at  the  Widener  Library,  or  at  the  Museum 
of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 

Bartsch,  Adam  von.  Le  Peintre-Graveur.  Vienna  1803-21  (chiefly  Vol.  XIII. 

[1811];  also  occasional  references  to  Vols.  XIV.  and  XV.). 

Brulliot,  Francois.  Dictionnaire  des  Monogrammes.  Munich  1817  (2nd  ed. 
1832,  1833). 

Nagler,  G.  K.  Die  Monogrammisten.  Munich  1858-79. 

Passavant,  J.  D.  Le  Peintre-Graveur.  Leipzig  1860-64  (chiefly  Vols.  I.  and  V.). 


15 


Kristeller,  Paul.  Die  Lombardische  Graphik  der  Renaissance.  Berlin  1913. 
Dutuit,  Eugene.  Manuel  de  I’Amateur.  Introduction  generale.  i®''  Partie 
(prefatory);  Partie,  Nielles  (ed.  by  Gustave  Pawlowski).  Paris  1884, 
1888. 

Vasari,  Giorgio.  Le  vite  de’  piu  eccelenti  Pittori,  Architetti  e Scultori  Italiani. 
Florence  1550  (2nd  ed.  revised  and  enlarged  by  the  author,  Florence  1568); 
and  various  other  editions. 

Nagler,  G.  K.  Allgemeines  Kiinstlerlexikon.  22  vols.  Munich  1835-52. 
Kristeller,  Paul.  See  Thieme  and  Becker,  Allgemeines  Lexikon  der  bildenden 
Kiinstler  (under  Baldini,  in  Vol.  II.  1908). 

Thieme,  U.,  and  Becker,  F.  Allgemeines  Lexikon  der  bildenden  Kiinstler.  Leip- 
zig 1907,  etc.  (in  progress). 

Horne,  Herbert  P.  Sandro  Botticelli.  London  igo8  (pp.  77-86,  for  Dante  illus- 
trations, Finiguerra,  Baldini  and  Fine  Manner;  pp.  288-291,  for  Broad 
Manner  plates;  pp.  75-77  and  190-255,  Dante  engravings  and  drawings). 
Colvin,  Sidney.  A Florentine  Picture  Chronicle  . . . by  Maso  Finiguerra.  Lon- 
don 1898. 

Kolloff,  E.  See  Julius  Meyer,  Allgemeines  Kiinstlerlexikon  (under  Baldini, 
Vol.  II.  1878). 

Delaborde,  Henri.  La  Gravure  en  Italie  avant  Marc-Antoine  (1452-1505). 
Paris  [1882]. 

Fisher,  Richard.  Introduction  to  a Catalogue  of  Early  Italian  Prints  in  the 
British  Museum.  London  1886. 

Lippmann,  Friedrich.  Der  Kupferstich.  Berlin  1896  (Ed.  revised  by  Max 
Lehrs,  1906;  English  translation  by  M.  Hardie,  1907). 

Kristeller,  Paul.  Sulle  origini  dell’  incisione  in  rame  in  Italia.  A rchivio  Storico 
deir  Arte,  VI.  (1893),  391. 

Kristeller,  Paul.  Kupferstich  und  Holzschnitt  in  vier  Jahrhunderten.  Berlin 

1905. 

Kristeller,  Paul.  Der  venezianische  Kupferstich  im  XV.  Jahrhundert.  Mit- 
teilimgen  der  Gesellschaft  fiir  vervielfdltigende  Kunst,  1907,  No.  i. 
Allemagne,  Henry  Rene  d’.  Les  cartes  a jouer  du  XIV®  au  XX®  siecle.  Paris 

1906. 

Hind,  A.  M.  Italienische  Stiche  des  XV.  Jahrhunderts  nach  nordischen  Ori- 
ginalen.  Mitteilungen  der  Gesellschaft  fiir  vervielfdltigende  Kunst,  1908, 
No.  I. 

Hind,  A.  M.  Short  History  of  Engraving  and  Etching.  London  1908;  2nd  ed. 

Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston  and  New  York  1911. 

Hind,  A.  M.  The  Print  Collector’s  Quarterly,  Vol.  2,  No.  3,  October  1912, 
pp.  253-289. 

Essling,  Victor  Massena,  Due  de  Rivoli,  Prince  d’.  Etudes  sur  les  Triomphes 
de  Petrarque.  Gazette  des  Beaux- Arts,  2®  per.  XXXV.  (1887),  3 1 1,  XXXVI. 
25- 

Essling,  Prince  d’,  and  Muntz,  Eugene.  Petrarque,  ses  etudes  d’art,  on 
influence  sur  les  artistes.  Paris  1902. 

Kristeller,  Paul.  Bologna,  Pinacoteca.  Nielli  del  Francia.  Gallerie  Nazionali 
Italiane,  III.  (1867),  186. 


16 


REPRODUCTIONS 


Reid,  G.  W.  A reproduction  of  the  Salamanca  Collection  of  prints  from  Nielli. 
London  1869. 

Reid,  G.  W.  Works  of  the  Italian  engravers  of  the  fifteenth  century.  London 
1884  (reproductions  of  the  Monte  Sancto,  Dante,  and  Triumphs  of  Petrarch). 
Amand-Durand.  Eaux-fortes  et  gravures  des  maitres  anciens.  Notes  par  G. 
Duplessis.  10  vols.  Paris  1872-78. 

British  Museum,  Department  of  Prints  and  Drawings.  Reproductions  of 
Prints.  Pt.  I.  (1882),  Italian  Prints. 

New  Series,  Pt.  I.  (1886),  Early  Italian  Prints. 

International  Chalcographical  Society  (Internat.  Chalcographische  Gesellschaft). 
Berlin,  etc.,  1886-1897. 

Lippmann,  Friedrich.  Engravings  and  Woodcuts  by  Old  Masters,  reproduced  in 
facsimile  by  the  Imperial  Press  at  Berlin  and  published  under  the  direction 
of  Dr.  Lippmann.  (Engl,  ed.,  10  vols.,  Quaritch,  London  1889-1900.) 
Graphische  Gesellschaft.  Berlin  1906,  etc.  (in  progress). 


17 


■i  ■;  1’. 


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NIELLI 


Bibliography: 

Hind,  A.  M.  Short  History,  2nd  ed.,  pp.  41-44,  68-70. 

Hind,  A.  M.  Introduction  and  p.  xliii. 

Kristeller,  Paul.  K.  u.  H.  p.  165  ff.;  Italienische  Niellodrucke  u.  der 
Kupferstich.  Pr.  Jahrh.  XV.  (1894),  94!  Bologna,  Pinnacoteca. 
Nielli  del  Francia.  Gallerie  Nazionali  Italiane,  III.  (1897),  186. 

Rosenberg,  Marc.  Geschichte  der  Goldschmiedekunst  auf  technischer 
Grundlage.  Abt.:  Niello.  Darmstadt  1907. 

Dutuit,  Eugene.  Manuel  de  FAmateur.  Introduction  generale.  i" 
Partie  (prefatory) ; 2™®  Partie,  Nielles  (ed.  by  G.  Pawlowski).  Paris 
1884,  1888.  (Contains  a catalogue  and  many  reproductions.) 

Reid,  G.  W.  A reproduction  of  the  Salamanca  Collection  of  prints  from 
Nielli.  London  1869.  (Contains  many  facsimiles.) 

Fisher,  Richard.  Introduction  to  a study  of  early  Italian  prints,  pp.  i- 
47- 

Duchesne,  Jean.  Essai  sur  les  nielles.  Paris  1826. 

There  are  on  exhibition  three  Nielli,  and  in  this  connection  the 
following  summary  statement  is  quoted  from  Hind’s  “ Short  His- 
tory,” pp.  41  ff. : 

“In  Italy  for  half  a century  or  more  after  1450  the  art  of  niello  was  a popular  branch  of  the  gold- 
smith’s craft  (far  more  so  than  in  the  North),  . . . Niello  may  be  described  as  the  method  of  treating  an 
engraved  silver  (or  gold)  plate  by  filling  the  furrows  with  a black  substance  {nigellum)  formed  by  the 
fusion  of  copper,  silver,  lead  and  sulphur,  which  gives  the  art  its  name.  Powdered  niello  was  laid  on 
the  surface  of  the  plate,  melted  by  the  application  of  heat,  and  so  run  into  the  lines.  The  substance 
being  allowed  to  cool  and  harden,  the  surface  of  the  plate  was  burnished,  and  the  design  would  appear 
in  black  on  a bright  ground.  The  art  was  no  doubt  known  to  goldsmiths  several  centuries  before  the 
introduction  of  engraving,  but  it  was  little  practised  until  quite  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
when  it  suddenly  became  popular,  only  to  fall  almost  completely  out  of  use  some  sixty  or  seventy  years 
later.  Outside  Italy  it  never  greatly  flourished.  The  mark  of  a good  niello-plate  in  general  is  distinct- 
ness and  clearness  of  cutting,  but  there  is  large  variation  in  different  schools  in  the  depth  of  the  en- 
graving, in  the  intervals  between  the  lines,  and  in  the  greater  or  lesser  use  of  cross-hatching.  Thus  in 
the  Florentine  school  the  background  is  generally  cut  in  clear  lines,  laid  in  two  parallel  series  crossing 
nearly  at  right  angles,  while  the  delicate  modelling  is  done  by  a system  of  much  more  lightly  engraved 
lines  carefully  cross-hatched.  . . . Now  the  characteristic  of  the  clear  cut  line  noticed  in  the  backgrounds 
of  the  Florentine  nielli  is  already  seen  to  some  extent  in  several  plates  of  the  earliest  group  . . .,  but 
the  second  factor,  the  close  modelling,  does  not  begin  to  make  itself  felt  before  the  engraved  work  of 
Finiguerra  himself  and  the  beginning  of  what  is  called  the  “Fine”  Manner.  In  the  development  of  the 
“Fine”  Manner  the  niello  technique  is  of  definite  moment,  though  engraving  in  its  beginnings  must 
be  regarded  as  originating  from  the  goldsmith’s  art  in  general  rather  than  from  this  special  branch. 

To  judge  from  the  niello  prints  in  existence  (of  which  scarcely  any  go  back  as  early  as  1450),  the 
idea  of  taking  impressions  of  nielli  on  paper  would  hardly  have  been  the  beginning  of  engraving  in  Italy; 
much  more  probably  it  was  the  niellist  who  took  the  suggestion  from  the  already  existing  practice  of 
engravers.  A common  method  for  the  niello  engraver  to  test  his  work  was  to  take  a sulphur  cast  of  the 
plate  and  rub  the  lines  with  black,  which  would  give  an  effect  far  truer  to  the  original  than  any  impres- 


19 


sion  on  paper,  as  may  be  seen  by  several  examples  of  these  rare  “sulphurs”  which  are  preserved  in 
the  Print  Room  of  the  British  Museum.  It  seems  that  in  most  instances  of  early  impressions  from  real 
nielli  the  proof  was  taken  from  the  sulphur;  but  the  sulphur  being  an  exact  replica  of  the  plate  in 
form,  and  the  impression  being  the  reverse  of  the  original,  whether  taken  from  the  plate  or  from  the 
sulphur,  certainty  on  this  point  is  not  always  attainable. 

Soon  the  niello-worker  felt  in  his  turn  the  influence  of  the  engraver.  Plates  quite  in  the  niello 
manner  were  done  with  the  express  purpose  of  taking  impressions.  Sometimes  it  is  extremely  difficult 
to  make  an  absolute  line  of  distinction  between  the  two  classes  of  work;  certain  signs,  however,  if  pres- 
ent, such  as  rivet  holes  or  inscription  in  reverse,  declare  for  the  niello  proper,  and  Impressions  of  these, 
which  were  taken  merely  to  show  the  craftsman  the  progress  of  the  work,  are  of  course  extremely  rare. 
Of  the  second  category,  niello-like  engravings  . . . may  have  been  produced  in  many  cases  for  the  pur- 
pose of  providing  prints  to  be  used  as  models  for  the  worker  in  niello.” 

No.  I.  ORPHEUS.  BY  Peregrino  da  Cessna  (?). 

Duch.  255. 

B.  XIII.  208,  6. 

(S3  X31) 

Very  fine  impression  with  margin  in  bluish-green  ink. 

Lent  by  Messrs.  Arthur  Hahlo  & Co.,  New  York;  formerly  in  the  Alfred  Morrison  Collection. 

No.  2.  FEMALE  FIGURE,  by  Nicoletto  da  Modena  (?). 

Duch.  315. 

B.  XIII.  292,  68. 

(57x23) 

An  interesting,  typical  and  probably  XVI  century  impression. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  J.  Reiss  Collection. 

No.  3.  ORNAMENTAL  PANEL,  by  Peregrino  da  Cessna  (.?). 

Duch.  362. 

(72  X 4S) 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Brayton  Ives  Collection. 


20 


No.  I.  Orpheus.  Niello,  by  Peregrino 
DA  Cesena(?). 

Lent  by  Messrs.  Arthur  Hahlo  & Co.,  New  York. 


No.  2.  Female  Figure.  Niello. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


No.  3.  Ornamental  Panel.  Niello,  by 
Peregrino  da  Cesena(?). 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


21 


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;<  if  > 


V 


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\ •■•  , 


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\ 


ANONYMOUS  PRIMITIVE  FLORENTINE 
ENGRAVINGS  IN  THE  FINE 
MANNER 


The  two  prints  shown  under  this  heading  are  classed  by  Hind  in 
his  Catalogue  in  the  group  which  contains  the  most  primitive  Floren- 
tine engravings  and  a fev/  other  isolated  prints  which,'  although  not 
so  early,  cannot,  for  stylistic  reasons,  be  placed  in  any  of  the  other 
categories  adopted  by  him  in  his  classification.  These  two  prints 
are  closely  related  in  style  as  well  as  in  fact,  having  been  engraved 
one  on  either  side  of  the  same  copper  plate,  but  as  they  have  little 
close  affinity  with  any  other  prints  of  the  period  they  may  be  con- 
sidered as  a separate  group. 


No.  4.  ST.  JEROME  IN  THE  WILDERNESS. 

Hind.  A.  I.  19. 

P.  V.  17,  20. 

(224  X 285) 

Modern  impression  from  an  old  and  reworked  plate;  marks  of 
rivet-holes  to  be  seen  in  the  two  upper  corners. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  H.  F.  Sewall  Collection. 

“ Allessandro  da  Morrona  possessed  the  original  plate  of  this  print,  and  included  impressions  from 
it  in  the  second  edition  of  his  Pisa  Illustrata  (Livorno  1812):  . . . Morrona  thought  that  the  engraving 
reproduced  a lost  painting  of  the  same  subject  known  in  the  sixteenth  century  to  have  existed  in  the 
Cappella  Maggiore  of  the  Campo  Santo  at  Pisa,  which  was  replaced  in  1595  by  the  existing  altar-piece  of 
Aurelio  Lomi.  . . . The  fighting  lions  might  be  explained  as  referring  to  the  subjugation  of  Pisa  by  Flor- 
ence. There  is  a large  drawing  of  the  Pollaiuolo  school  (too  weak  for  the  master  himself)  in  the  Print 
Room  at  the  Uffizi  (Cat.  II.  No.  loi),  which  gives  the  same  composition  with  several  variations  and 
on  a considerably  larger  scale.  . . . As  the  drawing  is  pricked  for  transfer  it  no  doubt  served  as  a car- 
toon for  some  lost  picture,  and  there  seems  strong  reason  for  supposing  that  the  composition  may  have 
formed  part  at  least  of  the  Campo  Santo  altar-piece  above  mentioned.  Either  the  lost  picture  or  the 
drawing  itself  must  have  served  the  engraver,  who  from  certain  tokens  of  style  (e.g.,  landscape,  trees, 
etc.)  seems  to  have  been  akin  to  the  Finiguerra  group. 

We  have  refrained,  however,  from  classing  the  print  in  that  group  on  account  of  its  intimate  con- 
nection with  the  Inferno  subject  [i.e.,  the  following  number  in  the  present  Catalogue],  which  shows 
little,  if  any,  of  the  same  artistic  affinities.”  (H.  p.  26.) 


23 


No.  5.  THE  INFERNO  ACCORDING  TO  DANTE:  After  a 
Fresco  in  the  Campo  Santo  at  Pisa. 

Hind.  A.  I.  20. 

P.  V.  43,  102. 

(226  X 282) 

Good  impression  in  red  ink,  showing  plate-line;  marks  of  rivet- 
holes  to  be  seen  in  the  two  upper  corners. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 

“This  engraving  occurred  on  the  back  of  the  same  plate  which  contained  the  S.  Jerome.  . . . The 
composition  is  clearly  copied,  in  the  same  direction,  from  a part  of  the  fresco  of  the  Last  Judgment 
(attributed  to  Andrea  Orcagna)  in  the  Campo  Santo,  Pisa.  The  engraving  is  probably  Florentine  of 
about  1470-80,  but  its  style,  disguised  by  reworking  as  it  is,  does  not  very  definitely  connect  it  with  any 
other  group  of  the  period.”  (H.  p.  27.) 

According  to  Hind  (loc.  cit.)  the  original  copper  plate  of  this  and 
the  preceding  engraving  was  sold  at  the  Eugene  Plot  sale,  at  Paris, 
in  1890,  in  which  it,  with  twenty  modern  impressions  of  each  en- 
graving, appeared  as  lot  No.  316. 


24 


4-  St.  Jerome  in  the  Wilderness. 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  ArtSj  Boston. 


\ 


1 


'f 


\ 


5.  The  Inferno  according  to  Dante. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


> 


1 


THE  PLANETS 


Bibliography : 

Hind.  A.  III. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  (i8ii),  pp.  190-200. 

Passavant.  V.  (1864),  pp.  31-35. 

Kolloff,  E.  In  Meyer’s  Allgemeines  Kiinstlerlexikon.  II.  (1878),  Bai- 
dini,  I.  1 14-120. 

Lippmann,  F.  The  Seven  Planets  (reproduced  and  described.)  Inter- 
national Chalcographical  Society,  1895.  ' 

This  exhibition  contains  two  engravings:  “Luna”  and  “Mars” 
from  the  extremely  rare  series  of  early  Florentine  fine  manner  en- 
gravings, illustrating  the  seven  planets  and  their  influence  on  mankind. 


“None  of  the  sciences  that  descended  from  antiquity  possessed  firmer  hold  on  the  popular  imag- 
ination of  the  middle  ages  than  that  of  Astrology.  That  science  took  as  its  foundation  the  ancient  con- 
ception of  the  universe  with  the  earth  as  the  centre  round  which  all  the  heavenly  bodies  revolved  in  the 
space  of  a day  and  a night.  Encircling  the  earth  were  the  successive  spheres  of  water,  air,  fire,  the 
seven  planets  (Moon,  Mercury,  Venus,  Sun,  Mars,  Jupiter,  Saturn),  the  firmament  with  the  constella- 
tions (the  coeltim.  crystallinum),  and  the  Primum  Mobile.  To  each  of  the  planets  were  ascribed  attri- 
butes according  to  the  traditional  character  of  the  deity  whose  name  it  bore,  and  these  attributes  were 
regarded  as  transmissible  under  certain  conditions  to  mankind.  The  influence  of  the  planets  depended 
on  their  position  in  the  heavens  in  respect  of  the  various  constellations,  with  which  each  had  different 
relations.  Each  planet  had  what  was  called  its  ‘house’  in  one  of  the  constellations,  and  according  to 
its  position  relative  to  these  was  said  to  be  in  the  ‘ascendant’  or  ‘descendant.’  In  regard  to  individual 
human  beings  the  date  of  birth  was  the  decisive  point,  and  the  degree  of  influence  transmitted  from 
the  planets  depended  on  the  respective  'degree  of  ‘ascendance’  or  ‘descendance’  at  the  particular 
epoch.  But  in  addition  to  their  power  of  influencing  the  destinies  of  individual  men  according  to  their 
positions  at  the  hour  of  birth,  the  several  planets  were  supposed  to  rule  over  and  impart  their  own 
characters  to  whole  groups  and  orders  of  men  collectively.  Certain  temperaments  were  supposed  to 
be  associated  with  certain  callings,  pursuits,  and  social  conditions,  and  these  callings  and  the  classes 
following  them  to  be  governed  each  by  its  appropriate  planet;  the  mythological  attributes  of  the 
divinity  after  whom  each  planet  was  named  suggesting  the  classes  of  men  supposed  to  live  under  its 
sway.  Thus  Saturn  governs  field-labour  and  those  who  live  by  it  with  men  of  low  estate  and  ill  luck 
generally;  Mars  governs  soldiers;  Venus,  lovers;  Mercury,  men  of  science,  art,  and  invention. 

In  the  representation  of  the  planets  and  their  ‘children’  (as  those  formed  under  their  respective 
influences  were  called)  artists  of  the  fifteenth  or  sixteenth  centuries  found  a popular  field  for  illustra- 
tion. Among  mural  paintings  the  divinities  of  the  seven  planets  in  their  astrological  aspect  occur  in  a 
ruined  scheme  of  decoration  by  Guariento  at  Padua,  and  again,  carried  out  by  pupils  of  Perugino  from 
the  master’s  designs,  in  the  ceiling  of  the  Sala  del  Cambio  at  Perugia.  Among  prints  and  drawings, 
cur  Florentine  engraver  seems  to  have  originated  or  at  least  popularized  the  types  followed  in  a whole 
series  of  similar  representations.  . . . Inscriptions  below  each  print  of  the  series  give  a summary  of 
astrological  lore  bearing  on  each  planet,  in  relation  to  his  motions  in  the  heavens  and  the  attributes 
which  he  transmits  to  his  children.  The  inscriptions  show  the  same  irregularities  in  grammar,  spelling, 
and  shape  of  letter,  betraying  the  illiteracy  of  the  craftsman,  as  are  found  in  the  Prophets  and  Sibyls, 
which  evidently  issued  from  the  workshop  of  Finiguerra’s'  successors.”  (H.  pp.  49-51.) 


29 


No.  6.  MARS. 


Hind.  A.  III.  3. 

P.  V.  34, 64. 

' (328  X 219) 

Very  fine  impression  from  reworked  plate.  Wide  margins,  con- 
dition unusually  fine. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  P.  Gellatly  and  Brayton  Ives 
Collections. 

No.  7.  LUNA. 

Hind,  A.  III.  7. 

P.  V.  35,  67. 

(325  X 217) 

Very  fine  impression  from  reworked  plate.  Wide  margins,  con- 
dition unusually  fine. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  P.  Gellatly  and  Brayton  Ives 
Collections. 


30 


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No.  6.  Planet  A'Iars. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


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No.  7.  Planet  Luna. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


THE  OTTO  PRINTS 


Bibliography: 

Hind.  A.  IV. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  (i8ir),  pp.142-151. 

Passavant.  V.  (1864),  pp.  35-38. 

Kristeller,  Paul.  Florentinische  Zierstiicke  in  Kupferstich  aus  dem  XV. 
Jahrhundert.  Graphische  Gesellschaft  X.  Berlin  1909. 

The  one  unique  print  in  this  exhibition  belongs  to  a group  of 
twenty-four  fine  manner  Florentine  engravings,  known  as  the  Otto 
Prints  which 

. . do  not  constitute  a regular  set  or  series  in  the  same  sense  as  the  sets  of  the  Passion,  the 

Triumphs  of  Petrarch,  the  Planets,  the  Prophets  and  Sibyls,  and  the  like.  But  they  belong  together 
in  the  triple  sense  of  coming  from  a single  Florentine  workshop  — obviously  the  Finiguerra  workshop 
in  its  later  phase,  probably  about  i4,65-70j  having  been  destined  for  the  same  use,  that  is,  the  decora- 
tion of  the  covers  of  round  or  oblong  toilet-boxes  or  work-boxes  for  ladies;  and  of  having  formed  part 
of  a single  purchase  made  in  Florence  by  the  famous  diplomatist  and  collector  Baron  Philippe  de  Stosch 
while  he  was  settled  there  between  1731  and  his  death  in  1757.  The  v/hoie  set  of  twenty-four  were  in- 
herited from  him  by  Heinrich  Wilhelm  Muzel  (called  Stosch  Walton),  and  after  his  death  acquired  at 
public  sale  in  Berlin  (1783)  by  Peter  Ernst  Otto,  a merchant  and  collector  of  Leipzig.  After  Otto’s 
death  in  1799,  most  of  the  set  remained  in  the  hands  of  his  heirs  until  185 1-2,  when  the  whole  of  the  large 
collection  of  prints  they  had  inherited  was  sold  by  Weigel  in  Leipzig.  Six  of  the  set  however  had  changed 
hands  before  the  auction;  sixteen  of  the  remaining  eighteen  were  acquired  by  the  British  Museum. 
In  1866  the  [British]  Museum  also  acquired  the  impression  which  had  been  given  by  Otto  to  Zani 
[Tobias  and  the  angel],  so  that  all  of  the  set  but  seven  are  now  in  our  national  collection.  . . . 

Technically,  both  in  design  and  execution,  the  prints  of  this  series  show  all  the  characteristics  of 
the  Finiguerra  workshoo  in  the  phase  which  we  suppose  to  have  followed  the  death  of  the  master  in 
1464.”  (H.  62  ff.) 

No.  8.  YOUNG  MAN  AND  WOMAN  EACH  HOLDING  AN 
APPLE. 

L.  Thies.  Catalogue  of  the  Gray  Collection  [Fogg  Art ’Museum],  p.  53. 

Bulletin  of  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston,  VII.  39,  35.  June 

1909. 

Hind.  A.  IV.  16. 

B.  XIII.  143,  2. 

P.  V.  36,  39. 

“An  inner  circle  in  the  centre  is  left  blank.  To  the  1.  stands  a young  woman  wearing  a plain  tunic 
and  turned  in  three  quarters  to  the  r. ; to  the  r.  facing  her,  stands  a young  man  wearing  a richly  embroid- 
ered doublet  and  turned  in  three  quarters  to  the  1.  She  holds  a wreath  in  her  r.  lowered  hand  and  aa 
apple  in  her  lifted  I.  He  holds  up  an  apple  in  his  r.  hand  and  leans  his  1.  against  his  hip.  Between 
them,  above  the  inner  circle,  stands  a basket  of  apples;  and  below  on  the  ground  a richly  decorated 


35 


vase  full  of  carnations.  Within  the  inner  circle  one  of  the  badges  of  the  Medici  which  was  apparently 
not  used  until  1465  (six  ‘palle’  with  three  lilies  in  the  uppermost)  is  drawn  in  pen  and  ink:  and  above 
the  figures  1.  and  r.  are  written  also  in  pen  and  ink,  the  inscriptions  6 amove  te/q{  = tenga  questaPjand 
piglia  q respectively.”  (H.  p.  72). 

(Circle,  diam.  120.) 

Early  impression  in  greenish-gray  ink. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University;  formerly  in  the  Stosch,  Muzei,  Otto  and 
Gray  Collections. 


36 


No.  8.  Otto  Print. 

I.ent  by  the  Fosr  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


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ENGRAVINGS  IN  BOOKS 


IL  MONTE  SAN CTO  DI  DIO.  Florence  1477 
DIVINA  COMMEDIA.  Florence  1481 

This  exhibition  contains  all  three  of  the  illustrations  from  II 
Monte  Sancto  di  Dio  and  an  impression  of  one  of  the  nineteen  illus- 
trations made  for  Landino’s  edition  of  the  Divina  Commedia. 

“AntoEio  Bettini’s  Monte  Sancto  di  Dio,  priated  at  Florence  by  the  German  Nicholas  Laurentiiin 
the  year  1477,  is  perhaps  the  earliest  book  known  in  which  copper  engravings  occur  printed  directly 
on  the  page  of  text.  There  are  many  instances  before  that  date  in  the  North  where  engravings  are 
found  pasted  into  books,  and  a few  in  'which  the  engravings  so  treated  have  been  designed  expressly  to 
illustrate  the  books  in  which  they  are  placed;  e.g.  those  for  Colard  Mansion’s  French  edition  of  Boc- 
caccio’s De  infelicibus  virorum  et  joeminarum  illustrium  casibus,  Bruges  1476,  and  possibly  that  for 
Caxton’s  Recuyell  of  the  Historie  of  Troye,  Bruges,  ab.  1479.  . . . The  method  is  a laborious  one,  in- 
volving a double  pointing  in  each  case,  as  the  copper  plate  cannot  be  printed,  as  a wood-block  is,  in 
the  same  press  and  at  the  same  time  with  the  text.  Hence,  no  doubt,  it  vi^as  scon  discarded  both  south 
and  north  of  the  Alps,  not  to  be  taken  up  again  until  nearly  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  . . . 

For  general  book  illustration  woodcuts  held  the  field  until  quite  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
when  a second  effort  was  made  to  introduce  the  use  of  copper  engravings.  This  time  it  was  successful 
and  remained  in  fact  the  most  popular  mode  of  illustration  until  halfway  through  the  nineteenth  century. 

Both  the  books  we  are  about  to  describe  issued  from  the  press  of  the  German  Nicholas  Laurentii 
(Nicolo  di  Lorenzo  della  Magna  or  Nicolo  todescho,  as  he  variously  styles  himself),  and  as  the  engrav- 
ings in  both  are  technically  quite  alike  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  they  come  from  the  same  hand, 
or  at  least  from  one  workshop.  They  are  fine-marmer  prints  cut  according  to  the  Finiguerra  tradition, 
and  are  in  the  same  style  as  the  Prophets  and  Sibyls  and  Otto  prints,  only  later  and  distinctly  weaker. 
'Who  were  the  craftsmen  thus  feebly  sustaining  the  Finiguerra  tradition  remains  uncertain:  ...  As 
to  the  designer  of  the  plates,  those  to  the  Monte  Sancto  have  not  enough  originality  to  suggest  the  hand 
of  any  known  or  notable  artist;  those  to  the  Divina  Commedia  are  assigned  alike  by  tradition  and  in- 
ternal evidence  to  Botticelli,  although  a Botticelli  disguised  into  puerility  by  the  feebleness  of  the 
engraver  who  interprets  him.”  (H.  pp.  79-81.) 

Bibliography: 

Hind,  p.  79  ff. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  pp.  175-187. 

Kolloff,  E.  In  Meyer’s  Kunstlerlexikon  II.  Baldini  I.  124-142. 

Reid,  G,  W.  Works  of  the  Italian  Engravers,  1884.  (Facsimiles.) 

Lippmann,  F.  Zeichnungen  von  S.  Botticelli  zu  Dante’s  Goettlicher  Ko-- 
moedie,  nach  den  Originalen  in  Berlin  1887. 

Horne,  Herbert  P.  Sandro  Botticelli,  London  1908.  pp.  75-77,  190-255. 


39 


IL  MONTE  SANCTO  DI  DIO 
Florence.  Nicholas  Laurentii.  1477 

Hain,  1276.  Proctor,  6114. 

The  descriptions  given  below  refer  in  detail  of  impression  to  the 
plates  in  the  copy  of  the  book  in  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard 
University.  This  copy  of  the  book  is  now  in  a French  binding  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  The  leaves  were  trimmed  in  the  rebinding 
with  the  result  that  the  second  and  third  plates  were  somewhat  cut. 
Watermarks  in  plates  and  text,  Hind,  8b  and  c,  9,  3b,  10,  ii. 

No.  9.  THE  HOLY  MOUNTAIN;  An  Allegorical  Design. 

Hind.  A.  V.  (i),  I. 

B.  XIII.  187,  57. 

P-  V.  31,  57. 

(256  X 185) 

Good  early  impression;  damaged  in  places,  but  carefully  restored 
and  provided  with  new  upper  and  lower  margins;  slightly  touched 
with  color. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 

This  plate  is  printed  on  the  verso  of  the  third  folio  of  contents 
to  the  volume,  opposite  the  beginning  of  Chapter  I.  There  is  a 
close  resemblance  between  the  figure  of  the  youth  in  this  print  and 
the  one  in  the  Otto  print,  known  as  “Young  Man  and  Woman  hold- 
ing up  a Sphere.”  (B.  XHI.  148,  17.) 

No.  10.  CHRIST  IN  A GLORY. 

Hind.  A.  V.  (i),  2. 

B.  XIII.  189,  58. 

P.  V.  31,  58. 

(257  X 17s) 

Fine  early  impression,  the  delicate  shading  being  intact.  Dam- 
aged in  places,  but  carefully  restored.  The  plate-line  shows  on  three 
sides  only,  the  left  side  of  the  print  having  been  cut  in  the  trimming 
of  the  leaves  in  the  rebinding  of  the  book.  Slightly'  touched  with 
color. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


40 


No.  II.  HELL:  The  Giudecca. 

Hind.  A.  V.  (i),  3. 

B.  XIII.  189,  59. 

P.  V.  31,  59- 

(123  X 167) 

intact.  The 
corner  in  the 
leaves  in  the 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


Fine  early  impression,  the  delicate  shadings  being 
plate-line  shows  all  around,  except  on  the  right  lower 
margin  where  it  has  been  cut  in  the  trimming  of  the 
rebinding  of  the  book.  Slightly  touched  with  color. 


DANTE:  DIVINA  COMMEDIA  (WITH  LANDING’S 
COMMENTARY) 

Florence,  Nicholas  Laurentii.  1481 

Hain,  5946.  Proctor,  6120. 

“Vasari  informs  us  that  Botticelli  devoted  much  time  and  energy  to  Dante  not  only  as  illustrator 
but  as  commentator.  Of  his  performance  in  the  latter  field  we  have  no  remains,  but  the  designs  of  the 
master  to  the  Inferno  v/hich  Vasari  refers  to  as  having  been  engraved  are  doubtless  the  series  of  nine- 
teen . . . illustrating  as  many  cantos  of  the  Inferno;  while  another  witness  to  Botticelli’s  study  of 
the  poet  is  the  magnificent  set  of  drawings  illustrating  the  whole  poem  which  are  preserved  partly 
at  Berlin  and  partly  in  the  Vatican.  Eleven  of  these  drawings  correspond  in  subject  to  the  present 
engravings  . . . and  have  evidently  a close  connexion  with  them  of  some  kind;  but  exactly  what 
connexion,  it  is  not  easy  to  determine.  . . . The  Berlin  and  Vatican  drav/ings,  done  as  they  are  on 
vellum  and  having  verses  written  on  the  back  of  each  to  correspond  to  and  face  the  drawing  which 
follows,  are  beyond  doubt  the  set  referred  to  by  the  Anonimo  and  executed,  as  we  learn  from  him,  by 
Botticelli  for  Lorenzo  di  Pierfrancesco  de’  Medici.  It  used  to  be  assumed  that  they  were  also  the 
originals  followed,  at  a distance  and  with  differences,  by  the  engraver  of  the  plates  for  the  1481  edi- 
tion so  far  as  he  proceeded  with  his  task.  But  in  style,  as  a stricter  chronological  study  of  the  master’s 
work  seems  to  prove,  they  belong  to  a later  period  of  his  life,  most  probably  to  the  last  decade  of  the 
century,  and  must  therefore  come  after  instead  of  before  the  designs  for  the  1481  edition.  . . . No 
copies  of  the  bock  are  knov/n  in  which  more  than  three  of  the  plates  are  printed  directly  on  to  the 
page  of  text:  generally  only  the  first  two  are  so  printed,  while  the  rest  of  the  nineteen  subjects  (which 
are  probably  all  that  ever  existed)  have  been  printed  separately,  cut  out,  and  pasted  into  the  spaces 
left  blank  for  them.  . . . 

In  all  nineteen  plates  are  known,  besides  a duplicate  plate  to  the  third  canto,  which  is  an  inferior 
copy  of  the  original,  but  perhaps  nearly  contemporary.  Impressions  of  the  book  containing  the  whole 
set  are  very  rare.”  (H.  pp.  83-86.) 

No.  12.  DANTE  AND  VIRGIL,  WITH  THE  VISION  OF 
BEATRICE. 

Hind.  A.  V.  (2),  2. 

B.  XIII.  176,  38. 

(97  X 175) 

Rich  early  impression  in  brown  ink. 


41 


“Printed  directly  on  to  the  page,  which  is  here  preserved  entire,  between  the  end  of  Canto  II 
and  the  beginning  of  Canto  III.  The  proper  place  for  this  plate  seems  from  most  copies  to  have  been 
before  the  opening  of  Canto  II,  but  in  copies  which  only  possess  a few  of  the  engravings  and  not  that  to 
Canto  III,  it  is  often  repeated  in  the  present  position,  which  is  properly  that  of  the  following  number.” 

(H.  p.  87.) 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University;  duplicate  from  the  British  Museum. 


42 


No.  9.  The  Holy  Mountain. 

(From  II  Monte  Sancto  di  Dio.  Florence  1477.) 
Lent  by  the  Fogp  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


/ 


No.  lo.  Christ  in  a Glory. 

(From  II  Monte  Sancto  di  Dio.  Florence  1477-) 

Lent  fay  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


No.  II.  Hell:  The  Giudecca. 

(From  II  Monte  Sancto  di  Dio.  Florence  1477.) 
Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


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alto  marc  ct  ako  f;umc  .-pcvclv  cl  f.nmo'ommo  l'.\  per  bill  rno  cioc  per  la  cQgniuonc  de  mm:  cqiia'i  fcr.  > 

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CANTO  TERTIO  DELLA  PFvIMA  CANTICA 


! Ono  alcSum  equal!  credenoAe  cj  ae  primi  capito 
li  ficiiO  liati  mlutgbidi  pi  ocmio.ct  quelle  tct.o 
fiaclpiincipio  dtllanarrationc  . Malcicn  idcmmo 
eben  dibgcmia  t'utta  la  materia/facilmcnte  fi  puo  pi  o 
Jure  ebe  la  narraticnc  cemincia  ncl  pnmo  capuolo;  e c 
ruluirfoiononuifobcndirccbon.ioucntrai  . Impe 
retbe  Cantbc  narra  in  qiicfia  fua  peregrin,  ticnc  edcr 
li  1 1 ti  c uato  nclla  felua : ct  baucre  fniai  n to  la  uia  Eflci  & 
totidtctcapp'edel monte.  Etdipcicrfcrfi addittzaio 
iiirfc  el  foie  per  ertocamino  clquale  loeonduceua  afal 
ii.  ir.c  mo  le  Ic  tre  litre  non  lancffmo  npincto  albaTo. 

1 1 lira'-ti'Cmc  lidoctcqtiali  alfonoobaacre  bauutocl 
fcctoifo  di  V irjrilic  et  daUc  tre  denne . Et  p Icfue  paro 
Ic  diet  pfnalo  Uifciado  d certo  adare  del  mote  fcginnr 
to  per  Imtcrno  et  purgaionoilaqual  uia  fap.zi  finiftro 

..  intoppo lo puo coiiducercalticlo.  Hebe Egnifica  quel 

to  tbe  Pfedifoprababbiamo  di-mofVro E 1 fc  alckmo  dicem  ebe  m .anaendue  quefti  cann 
ecnkq»bkapmbcn  uolfeetattckioneccdoeilua:  Enonfunetacbeiogn.rm 

rt  queflo.  Anal  mao.imamete  f.ncbicdc  alio  ferip  toreebe  le  capci  douuque  (i 

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amftrno;et.nqu.wrmr,o*fi*VaakEunofccndere.ilbnferno  Inf.-rrioadunqucc/bnr.m^^^^^^^ 

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refcccndolelorocolpcietnci'cnfcrnotorir.eniatcmf  r.oaiamo  iht  Opnrpbi)  o/  ^ 

ti-  molto  prani . Ma  quelle  cbe  bar.nc  temmeffo  fceler.u^e  enc.rmcici  fono  imp...  ^.a 

mandate  in  luogbo  piu  profendo  dec  to  mrtaio  er  qn.ni  fono  .miicrc.  nr.  bcintuon^u^ 

qualeoppimonee/moitoCimilealU  ^ ^ • 


Cr  me  fi  ua  nclla  citrado'.ente 
p per  me  fi  iia  neUetlieino  dolore 
per  me  fi  ua  tra  lapcrduca  gentc 
luditia  mofic  el  mio  alro  faaore 
fecemt  ladmina  poieftace 
la  fomma  fapientia  el  pnmo  amore 
Dinanzi  a me  nonfur  chofe  create 
fe  non  etlrernc  et  lo  ethemo  durp 
lafciatc  ognifperanza  uoi  tfentrate 
duefte  parole  di  colore  obfniro 
iiidfo  fcnpte  al  fommo  duna  porta 
pcrclaio  maeflro  cl  fenf o lor  me  duro 


No.  12.  Dante  and  Virgil  with  the  Vision  of  Beatrice. 
(From  Dante,  Divina  Comniedia.  Florence  1481.) 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  a\rt  Museum,  Harvard  Univ’ersity. 


V 


■ ‘ 


V 


THE  TRIUMPHS  OF  PETRARCH 


Bibliography: 

Hind.  B.  II.  pp.  115  fl. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  pp.  277-280,  Nos.  39-44  (under  Nicoletto  da  Modena). 

Passavant.  V.  pp.  71-72,  Nos.  73-78. 

Kolloff,  in  Meyer’s  Allgemeines  Kiinstlerlexikon  I (1878).  Baldini,  II. 
60-65. 

Reid,  G.  W.  Works  of  the  Italian  Engravers  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
London  1884  (with  complete  reproduction  of  the  series). 

Essling,  V.  M.,  Due  de  Rivoli,  Prince  d’.  Etudes  sur  les  Triomphes  de 
Petrarque.  Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts,  2®  per.  XXXV.  (1887),  31 1, 
XXXVI.  25. 

Essling,  Prince  d’,  and  Muntz,  Eugene.  Petrarque,  ses  etudes  d’art,  son 
influence  sur  les  artistes.  Paris  1902. 

Of  this  famous  and  rare  series  it  is  a piece  of  good  fortune  to  be 
in  a position  to  show  three  impressions,  those  of  Love,  Chastity,  and 
Death;  from  a set  in  the  broad  manner  which  Hind  correctly  points 
out  is  of  finer  artistic  value  than  the  Albertina  fine  manner  set 
probably  produced  some  twenty  years  earlier.  In  describing  the 
series  in  the  Albertina,  Hind  says  on  p.  10  of  his  Catalogue,  on  the 
general  subject  of  these  Triumphs,  the  following: 

“No  theme  outside  the  stories  of  Scripture  gave  more  frequent  employment  to  artists  and  crafts- 
men of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  than  Petrarch’s  famous  series  of  poems,  the  Trionfi.  It  is 
found  treated  alike  in  illumination,  in  tapestry,  in  the  painted  decoration  of  marriage-chests  ^ and  birth- 
trays,  in  pottery  and  enamel,  in  relief  sculptures  of  bronze,  marble,  or  ivory,  in  engravings  whether  on 
metal  or  on  wood. 

About  the  second  quarter  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  scheme  and  character  of  such  designs  be- 
came curiously  fixed  and  uniform,  within  certain  narrow  limits  of  variation.  In  telling  of  the  succes- 
sive Triumphs  of  Love,  of  Chastity,  of  Death,  of  Fame,  of  Time,  and  of  Eternity,  Petrarch  himself 
only  in  one  instance,  that  of  Love,  brings  before  us  one  of  the  powers  personified  and  riding  on  a chariot 
accompanied  by  attendant  figures.  But  artists  almost  unanimously,  without  regard  to  the  text,  per- 
sonify all  six  powers,  mount  each  on  a chariot,  and  escort  its  march  with  various  figures  or  groups  of 
figures,  some  of  which  may  in  particular  instances  be  suggested  by  passages  in  the  poem  itself,  but 
others  are  quite  freely  invented.  By  what  steps  this  free  and  symbolic  way  of  illustrating  Petrarch’s 
ideas  became  established  is  not  clear.  There  is  no  evidence  that  any  one  specially  distinguished  artist 
supplied  a prototype  which  others  of  less  initiative  followed.  The  probable  explanation  is  that  to  the 
ordinary  Italian  craftsman  of  the  Renaissance  the  mere  word  ‘trionfo’  as  a matter  of  course  suggested 
a chariot  procession.  He  was  familiar  with  the  idea  of  Roman  triumphs,  had  seen  and  copied  them  on 
many  an  ancient  bas-relief,  and  the  civic  usage  of  his  own  time  had  revived  something  like  them  in 
innumerable  street  processions  and  public  shows  and  pageants.  These  last  were  often  allegorical  in 
character;  and  among  them  doubtless  figured  allegories  founded  on  the  ideas  made  familiar  to  all 

1 See  the  Cassone  panel  by  Pesellino  in  Mrs.  Gardner’s  Collection  at  Fenway  Court,  Boston. 


51 


men’s  minds  by  Petrarch’s  poetry.  It  may  well  be  from  cars  drawn  through  the  streets  and  represent- 
ing in  this  way  the  several  victories  of  which  the  poet  sang,  that  the  artists  of  the  day  took  their  direct 
suggestion.  Not  only  in  regard  to  the  general  arrangement  of  the  Triumphs,  but  in  subsidiary  de- 
tails, Petrarch’s  illustrators  allowed  themselves  much  license,  in  interpreting  their  original.” 


No.  13.  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  LOVE. 

Hind.  B.  II.  I. 

B.  XIII.  277,  39. 

P.  V.  71,  73. 

First  state. 

(264  X 172) 

Very  fine  early  silvery  impression  in  gray  ink;  wide  margin; 
slight  touches  of  old  color. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  Dr.  Ottokar  Mascha  Collection. 

No.  14.  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  CHASTITY. 

Hind.  B.  II.  2. 

B.  XIII.  278,  40. 

P.  V.  71,  74. 

First  state. 

(254  X 162) 

Early  impression,  showing  plate-line  on  three  sides.  The  print 
has  been  cut  at  the  bottom.  It  has  been  somewhat  rubbed  and  torn 
and  repaired.  It  was  probably  touched  with  color  in  places  and 
afterwards  washed. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum;  Harvard  University;  formerly  in  the  Dr.  Ottokar  Mascha 
Collection. 

No.  15.  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  DEATH. 

Hind.  B.  II.  3. 

B.  XHI.  278,  41. 

P.  V.  71,  76. 

First  state. 

(259x172) 

Good  early  impression.  A very  few  lines  have  been  strengthened 
in  parts  with  a pen  and  several  injuries  have  been  cleverly  repaired. 
Watermark;  Hind,  4b. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection. 


No.  13.  Triumph  of  Love. 
(From  Triumphs  of  Petrarch.) 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


<1^ 


ralafotmcronofamfegr;i  , N on  human uefamentr  man, umo 

In  c^mpo  iietdeun ciwdvdo  hetmcllmo/  Loco  andarcra- Mor  famrt paro  c. 
Corofmctt  mpatiValj^Uo  tegnav  Bcato  tbenchinafa  a caU,il,nc 


No.  14.  Triumph  of  Chastity. 
(From  Triumphs  of  Petrarch.) 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


TNI  cm  afpectatc'cbc  (amoitc  fcoccln 
Chome  fe  iaptu  |>attf;chc  pecccrto 
Ihfmtta  e/|afchtcpj  d eglf  fctoxch;'- 


|0  ciechi  iltanfo  affat!C3rc|^egfbua' 
Tuci•  rotrnarea!iag-ra.nn  madre-ami'ca- 
Ei-  Home  uoiTro  a pma  firitruoua . 


No.  15.  Triumph  of  Death. 
(From  Triumphs  of  Petrarch.) 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


BROAD  MANNER- MISCELLANEOUS 


No.  i6.  THE  ASSUMPTION  OF  THE  VIRGIN. 

Hind.  B.  III.  lo. 

B.  XIII.  86,  4. 

P.  V.  42,  100. 

Bulletin  of  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston,  VII.  39,  35.  June  1909. 

The  largest  engraving  on  copper  produced  in  the  XV  century. 

(825  X 560) 

Good  impression  from  an  apparently  reworked  state,  showing  the 
plate-line  almost  all  the  way  around.  Two  plates  were  used  for  the 
composition,  each  measuring  about  413  mm.  in  height,  and  the  paper 
is  joined  horizontally  across  the  middle.  The  print  is  in  very  good 
condition  but  has  been  backed. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University;  British  Museum  duplicate. 

“The  Assumption  is  a bold  and  powerful  piece  of  work  cut  in  the  ordinary  broad-manner  tech- 
nique and  obviously  translating  an  important  and  imposing  composition  by  Botticelli.”  (H.  p.  122.) 

“This  plate  ...  is  so  minutely  described  and  interestingly  discussed  by  Mr.  Horne  in  his  Life 
of  Botticelli  that  we  cannot  do  better  than  again  transcribe  his  words: 

‘Of  the  extant  engravings  in  the  “broad  manner,”  unquestionably  the  most  remarkable  is  the  large 
print  on  two  sheets  of  the  “Assumption  of  the  Virgin,”  which  was  clearly  done  from  a drawing  by 
Botticelli;  although,  as  in  the  earlier  group  of  prints  in  the  “fine  manner,”  the  engraver  has  varied 
many  of  the  details.  In  the  upper  part  of  the  print,  the  Virgin  is  represented  enthroned  in  the  heavens, 
in  the  midst  of  a choir  of  angels.  At  her  feet  are  three  half-length  figures  of  angels,  winged  like  seraphs, 
and  bearing  in  their  hands  branches  of  palm,  olive  and  rose.  Right  and  left  of  the  two  cherubim  which 
form  the  arms  of  the  throne  on  which  the  Virgin  is  seated  are  two  figures  of  angels,  which  are  turned 
outwards  and  bear  branches  of  olive,  lily  and  rose.  Such  imagery  was  of  the  time:  in  a contemporary 
“Laude”  to  the  Virgin  occurs  the  verse:  “Rose,  gigli  & viole  escon  deluiso  uostro.”  Above  and  behind 
the  figure  of  the  Madonna  is  a group  of  seven  kneeling  figures  of  angels  with  lily-wands,  who  sing  from 
a scroll  which  they  are  holding.  This  group,  and  the  figures  below,  are  so  arranged  as  to  form  a kind 
of  “mandorla”  or  glory  around  the  figure  of  the  Virgin.  On  either  side  of  this  group,  in  the  upper 
corners  of  the  composition,  are  two  other  groups  of  flying  angels  with  musical  instruments.  The 
figures  on  the  left  bear  severally  a lute,  psaltery  and  two  trumpets;  those  on  the  right,  a rebec,  a double 
pipe,  a timbrel  and  a trumpet.  Below,  in  the  centre  of  the  sheet,  is  the  empty  tomb  of  the  Virgin, 
round  which  stand,  or  kneel,  eleven  of  the  apostles.  The  twelfth  apostle,  St.  Thomas,  is  seen  in  the 
central  part  of  the  composition,  upon  a hill  which  rises  on  the  left  of  the  picture,  kneeling  at  the  feet 
of  the  Virgin,  who  is  in  the  act  of  giving  him  her  girdle,  a famous  relic  still  venerated  at  Prato.  Lastly, 
in  the  distance,  between  a break  in  the  hills,  is  a view  of  Rome,  in  which  the  column  of  Trajan,  the 
Pantheon,  Nero’s  tower,  the  Colosseum,  and  perhaps  the  Basilica  of  Constantine,  among  other  build- 
ings, may  be  recognised. 

The  original  design,  whether  drawing  or  painting,  from  which  this  engraving  was  taken,  must 
have  been  among  the  grandest  and  most  vigorous  works  of  this  last  period  of  Botticelli’s  art.  The 
large  and  rugged  treatment  of  the  figures  of  the  apostles,  their  strange  mane-like  hair  and  beards,  their 
fervent  and  agitated  gestures  and  attitudes,  lend  to  this  part  of  the  design  a forcible  and  primitive 
character,  which  recalls,  though  largely,  perhaps,  .in  an  accidental  fashion,  the  grand  and  impressive 


59 


art  of  Andrea  da  Castagno.  Not  less  vigorous  in  conception,  but  of  greater  beauty  of  form  and  move- 
ment, is  the  figure  of  the  Virgin;  and  the  motive  and  arrangement  of  the  angels  who  form  a “ mandorla” 
around  her  are  among  the  most  lovely  and  imaginative  of  the  many  inventions  of  the  kind  which  Botti- 
celli has  left  us.  The  lateral  groups  of  angels  playing  upon  musical  instruments  are  less  well  designed, 
though  many  of  the  attitudes  closely  recall  Botticelli’s  manner.  But  in  these  figures,  as  in  the  details 
of  the  landscape,  the  hand  of  the  engraver  is  doubtless  to  be  detected  in  that  process  of  free  translation 
into  black  and  white  which  is  characteristic  of  the  earliest  Florentine  engravings. . In  this  composition, 
Botticelli  not  only  reverts  to  one  of  the  traditional  compositions  of  Giottesque  art,  but  he  treats  it  with 
a vigour  and  ruggedness  of  e.xpression  which  in  itself  is  essentially  Giottesque.  That  this  trait  is  not  an 
e.\ceptional  or  accidental  one  is  shown  by  the  many  school-works  of  the  period,  which  are  frankly 
variations  in  Botticelli’s  manner,  upon  similar  traditional  themes  of  Giottesque  art,  and  by  the  per- 
sistent recurrence  of  this  energetic  and  rugged  character  in  the  last  works  of  the  master. 

A drawing,  which  may  have  served  as  a preliminary  study  for  this  “Assumption,”  is  preserved 
in  the  “Libro  Resta,”  in  the  Ambrosian  Library,  at  Milan.  It  represents  St.  Thomas  kneeling,  almost 
in  the  attitude  of  the  figure  in  this  engraving,  but  with  certain  differences  in  the  arrangement  of  the 
draperies,  and  especially  of  the  mantle,  which  in  the  drawing  is  thrown  round  the  figure,  and  over  the 
left  shoulder.  This  study,  which  appears  to  be  of  a somewhat  earlier  date  than  the  furniture-panels 
painted  with  the  stories  of  Lucretia  and  Virginia,  is  drawn  with  the  pen  on  a rubbed,  red  ground,  and 
washed  with  bistre,  and  heightened  with  white.  Admirable  in  action,  and  in  the  rendering  of  the  pro- 
foundly religious  sentiment  of  which  that  action  is  expressive,  this  study  enables  us,  perhaps,  to  form 
an  adequate  notion  of  the  quality  of  the  finished  composition  in  its  original  form.’”  (H.  pp.  130,  13  l..) 


60 


No.  i6.  The  Assumption  of  the  Virgin. 
Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


THE  PROPHETS  AND  SIBYLS 


FINE  MANNER  PRINTS  OF  THE  SCHOOL  OF  FINI- 
GUERRA  REPEATED  IN  THE  BROAD  MANNER 

Bibliography : 

Hind.  C.  I.  and  C.  II.  pp.  135-84. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  (1811). 

pp.  165-168,  Nos.  1-24  (Prophets,  Fine  Manner), 
pp.  169-172,  Nos. '1-24  (Prophets,  Broad  Manner). 

■ pp.  172-175,  Nos.  25-36  (Sibyls,  Fine  Manner), 
pp.  92-95,  Nos.  9-20  (Sibyls,  Broad  Manner,  early  states), 
pp.  95^98,  Nos.  21-32  (Sibyls,  Broad.  Manner,  reworked  states  and 
copies). 

Ottley.  I.  (1816). 

pp.  396-400,  Nos.  1-24  (Prophets,  Fine  Manner), 
pp.  401-402,  Nos.  1-12  (Sibyls,  Fine  Manner), 
pp.  432-436,  Nos.  1-12  (Sibyls,  Broad  Manner). 

Passavant.  V.  (1864). 

p.  29,  Nos.  1-24  (Prophets), 
p.  30,  Nos.  25-36  (Sibyls). 

Kolloff  in  MeyePs  Allgemeines  Kiinstlerlexikon  II  (1878),  under  Baldini. 

I.  1-24  (Prophets,  Fine  Manner). 

II.  5-28  (Prophets,  Broad  Manner). 

I.  25-36  (Sibyls,  Fine  Manner). 

II.  29-40  (Sibyls,  Broad  Manner). 

From  the  interesting  series  known  as  The  Prophets  and  Sibyls, 
there  are  shown  in  this  exhibition  four  of  the  Prophets  in  the  fine 
manner  and  besides  this  a fifth,  Jeremiah,  in  both  the  fine  and  the 
broad  manner.  A close  study  and  comparison  of  the  Jeremiah  im- 
pressions vhii  do  more  than  any  word  picture  to  fix  in  the  student’s 
mind  the  differences  between  these  two  manners  of  engraving. 

“With-  regard  to  the  subject  of  the  series,  the  grouping  of  the  semi-mythical  Sibyls  with  the 
Hebrew  prophets  on  nearly  equal  terms  was  of  course  a custom  familiar  in  all  forms  of  art  both  before 
and  during  the  Renaissance.  In  ail  the  confused  retrospects  of  the  Christian  Middle  Age  upon  the 
past,  a tendency  which  existed  from  the  beginning,  and  increased  towards  the  dawn  of  the  Renaissance, 
was  to  regard  v/ith  equal  or  all  but  equal  reverence  the  personages  and  legends  of  pagan  and  of  Hebrew 
antiquity.  The  past  was  the  past,  seen  through  mists  indeed,  but  through  mists  of  glory.  The  great- 

63 


ness  of  Rome  and  the  wisdom  of  Greece  had  never  really  been  forgotten;  and  in  order  to  justify  the 
fondness  with  which  men  turned  towards  the  thoughts  of  those  ages,  they  were  accustomed  to  dwell 
especially  on  those  characters  of  the  Gentile  world  who  could  be  regarded  as  endowed  with  the  spirit 
of  prophecy  and  some  foreknowledge  of  the  true  religion.  Foremost  among  these  were  the  Sibyls.  The 
Church  early  adopted  these  virgin  soothsayers,  reputed  to  have  lived  in  various  regions  of  the  ancient 
Roman,  Greek,  and  Eastern  world,  into  a kind  of  subordinate  association  with  the  Hebrew  prophets. 
Throughout  the  days  of  the  Roman  Republic,  the  fame  had  been  great  of  that  Cumaean  Sibyl  who  had 
sold  the  dwindled  remnant  of  her  books  to  Tarquin  for  so  great  a price.  When  this  remnant  was  burnt 
in  the  Capitol  the  dictator  Sulla  caused  search  to  be  made,  in  various  lands  where  Sibyls  were  reported 
to  have  prophesied,  for  other  of  their  oracles  to  replace  it.  Stimulated  perhaps  by  the  search  set  on 
foot  by  Sulla,  a new  literature  of  so-called  oracles  of  the  Sibyls  sprang  up  in  the  first  century  before 
Christ  among  the  Hellenising  Jews  of  Alexandria,  who  forged  and  circulated,  as  the  utterances  of  these 
mythic  prophetesses,  sets  of  Greek  hexameter  verses  shadowing  forth  their  own  monotheistic  creed  and 
Messianic  hopes.  They  were  followed  during  the  next  three  or  four  centuries  by  writers  of  other  Ale.x- 
andrlan  schools  and  sects  — Judaising  Christians,  Neoplatonists,  and  apparently  even  Christian  monks, 
who  contributed  to  the  floating  body  of  feigned  Sibylline  literature  portions  conceived  according  to  the 
spirit  of  the  schools  in  which  they  were  severally  bred;  but  all  dwelling  on  the  oneness  of  God,  and 
many  pointing  not  obscurely  to  the  coming  of  a Redeemer.  Augustine  determined  the  Church’s  view 
of  the  matter  when,  quoting  a Latin  translation  of  a Greek  acrostic  current  in  his  da}^  under  the  name 
of  the  Erythraean  or  the  Cumaean  Sibyl,  of  which  the  first  letters  formed  the  name  and  titles  of  Christ, 
he  declared  that  it  contained  nothing  tending  to  idolatry,  and  that  its  author  must  be  counted  among 
those  belonging  to  the  City  of  God.  An  earlier  Christian  doctor  and  controversialist,  Lactantius,  had 
asserted  of  the  prophecies  attributed  to  the  Sibyls  which  he  had  seen  that  none  of  them  speaks  of  any 
God  but  one,  and  that  therefore,  from  the  midst  of  paganism  they  furnish  arguments  against  the  pagan 
creed.  The  same  Lactantius  quotes  Varro  on  the  number  and  names  of  the  various  Sibyls  (a  point  on 
which  antiquity  itself  has  been  much  divided),  giving  their  number  as  ten,  and  their  names  as  the 
Persian,  Libyan,  Delphian,  Cimmerian,  Erythraean,  Samian,  Cumaean,  Hellespontic,  Phrygian,  and 
I’iburtine.  This  list  was  repeated  by  S.  Isidore;  and  later  the  ten  became  twelve  by  the  addition  of  a 
‘Sibylla  Europea’  and  a ‘Sibylla  Agrippa.’  The  chronological  compilers  always  mention  them  and 
often  give  them  dates.  But  what  made  them  living  personalities  to  the  Western  imagination  in  the 
later  Middle  Age  was  not  this,  nor  the  existence  of  their  supposed  oracles  in  Greek,  which  no  man 
could  read,  nor  the  fact  of  their  acceptance  by  the  Church.  It  was,  first,  the  ever-increasing  fame  of 
Virgil,  itself  greatly  resting  on  that  prophecy  of  a coming  new  age  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  Cumaean 
Sibyl  in  his  Fourth  Eclogue,  written  not  without  knowledge  of  the  Messianic  writings  current  among 
the  Jews  of  his  time,  and  afterwards  eagerly  interpreted  in  a Christian  sense;  and  secondly,  the  popu- 
larity of  a Roman  legend  of  purely  Middle  Age  fabrication,  the  legend  of  the  Ara  Coeli.  This  told  how 
Augustus  had  sent  for  the  Tiburtine  Sibyl  to  Ids  house  on  the  Capitol,  to  consult  her  on  the  offer  of 
divine  honours  made  him  by  the  Senate:  how  she  answered  that  a King  was  coming  from  heaven  who 
would  reign  for  ever,  and  wdth  that  heaven  opened,  and  he  saw  a vision  of  the  Virgin  and  Christ  in 
glory  standing  on  an  altar,  and  heard  a voice  saying,  ‘This  is  the  altar  of  the  Son  of  God.’  Popularised 
in  literature  by  The  Golden  Legend,  this  story  was  turned  to  account  by  art  in  all  the  schools  of  Europe 
from  the  thirteenth  century  down.  So  were  the  personages  of  the  twelve  Sibyls  in  general;  who  began 
to  appear,  all  or  some,  in  company  with  the  prophets  among  the  sculptured  figures  of  cathedral  door- 
ways and  in  painted  wdndows  and  the  carvings  of  choir-stalls.  For  the  artists  of  the  great  age  in  Italy 
the  adoption,  into  the  society  of  the  austere  and  aged  prophet-forms,  of  these  virgin  shapes  and  coun- 
tenances of  the  Sibyls,  was  a godsend.  Everyone  is  familiar  wdth  them  in  painted  cycles  like  those  of  the 
Sala  del  Cambio  at  Perugia,  and  of  the  Sixtine  Chapel  and  S.  Maria  delle  Pace  at  Rome.  In  the  days 
of  the  earliest  Florentine  engravers  their  sculptured  forms  looked  down  already  from  the  upper  niches 
of  the  Campanile  at  Florence,  or  could  be  traced  among  the  fringes  of  Ghiberti’s  Gate  of  Paradise,  or 
the  reliefs  of  the  Baptistery  altar-table;  while  they  were  habitually  represented  in  living  show  and 
speech  by  Florentine  bot^s  in  the  processions  and  ceremonies  in  the  Cathedral  square  on  St.  John’s 
day,  or  at  the  mystery-plays,  sacre  rappreseniazioni,  given  by  the  religious  confraternities  of  the  city 
in  their  halls  or  in  the  refectories  Of  convents.  In  these  performances  Prophets  and  Sibyls  were  accus- 
tomed to  enact  their  parts  together,  uttering  alternate  prophecies  of  the  birth  of  Christ. 

It  w'as  doubtless  in  illustration  or  reminiscence  of  such  popular  religious  plays  and  pageants  in 
Florence  that  our  series  of  engraved  Prophets  and  Sibyls  was  designed.  The  verses  engraved  at  the 
foot  of  the  prints  practically  correspond  in  most  cases  (with  unimportant  variations)  to  the  text  of 
a sacra  rappresentazione  attributed  to  Feo  Belcari,  of  which  the  earliest  edition  appeared  in  Florence 
without  author’s  or  printer’s  name  tow'ards  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.”  (H.  pp.  I3S“I37-) 

‘‘As  to  the  personality  of  the  designer  responsible  for  those  of  the  fine-manner  Prophets  and  Sibyls 
which  have  not  been  borrowed  from  Northern  sources,  it  is  impossible  to  speak  with  certainty.  They 
are  of  a marked  Pollaiuolesque  character  without  betraying  the  hand  of  either  of  the  Pollaiuolo  brothers 


themselves.  To  us  it  seems  not  impossible  that  among  the  hands  called  in  to  supply  designs  to  the 
workshop  after  the  death  of  its  head  was  the  young  Botticelli  in  his  period  of  service  with,  or  at  ant' 
rate  inspiration  by,'  Pollaiuolo  (about  1466-1469);  the  Botticelli,  that  is,  of  the  UfRzi  Fortitude.  Cer- 
tainly some  of  the  Sibyls  are  very  much  in  the  spirit  of  that  piece  both  in  general  design  and  in  fantasy 
of  decoration  and  costume,  however  much  weaker  in  effect;  but  for  such  relative  weakness  the  en- 
graver might  well  be  held  responsible.  Mr.  Horne,  however,  the  closest  and  most  competent  of  all 
Botticelli  students,  does  not  recognise  the  presence  of  the  young  master  among  designers  for  the  fine- 
marmer  workshop  at  this  moment  of  its  history,  but  limits  his  activity  in  relation  to  engraving  to  later 
years;  conceiving  him  to  have  done  drawings  for  that  workshop  only  about  1480  (the  drawings  for 
the  Landino  Dante  of  148 1),  and  for  the  broad-manner  workshop  at  an  indeterminate  date,  probably  later 
still. 

That  the  broad-manner  series  of  Prophets  a.nd  Sibyls  is  later  than  the  fine-manner  series  is  obvious 
and  incontrovertible,  but  by  how  wide  a gap  it  is  not  easy  to  say.  They  stand  to  the  fine-manner  series 
in  the  relation  of  copies  or  free  adaptations,  from  which  the  archaic  spirit  has  partly  gone,  and  with 
it  the  excess  of  ornamental  pattern  and  detail.  The  drawing  is  more  accomplished,  especially  in  the 
hands;  there  is  a greater  feeling  for  grace  as  well  as  simplicity.  ...  In  the  series  of  Sibyls  the  crouch- 
ing pose,  which  had  been  suggested  by  the  Evangelists  of  the  Master  E.  S.,  is  entirely  discarded.  The 
texts  also  have  been  revised  and  the  slips  and  illiteracies  of  the  first  engraver  corrected.  The  figures, as 
Mr.  Horne  has  shown,  are  now  very  much  in  keeping  with  the  mature,  middle  style  of  Botticelli,  so 
that  it  seems  likely  that  they  were  redrawn,  if  not  actually  by  him,  at  any  rate  under  his  immediate 
influence.  Technically,  the  mode  of  cutting  is  almost  identical  with  that  of  the  Life  of  the  Virgin,  the 
Triumphs  of  Petrarch,  the  oblong  plates  of  the  Deluge,  the  Story  of  Moses,  David  and  Goliath,  Solomon 
and  the  Queen  of  Sheba,  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  and  other  typical  examples  of  the  broad  manner.” 
(H.  pp.  141,  142.) 


THE  PROPHETS 

No.  17.  JACOB  (Fine  Manner). 

Hind.  C.  I.  2. 

B.  2. 

Second  state  (B.  IIL).  The  lower  portion  of  the  plate  with  the 
verses  has  been  cut  off;  worn  and  reworked ; numbered  2 in  lower 
right  corner;  the  B in  Jachob  has  been  modified;  the  floor  is  divided 
into  squares. 

(144  x 106) 

Good  impression. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection. 


No.  18.  JEREMIAH. 

Hind.  C.  I.  10. 

B.  10. 

A.  (Fine  manner.) 

Second  state  (B.  IIL).  Reworked;  the  lower  portion  of  the  plate, 
with  the  verses,  has  been  cut  off;  the  number  10  appears  in  lower 
right  corner. 

(143  X 103) 


Fair  impression. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 

B.  (Broad  manner.) 

Early  state. 

(174x98) 

Fine  early  impression  in  greenish-gray  ink;  cut  within  the  plate- 
line; slightly  injured  in  small  places  and  very  carefully  repaired. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University;  formerly  in  the  J.  S.  Morgan  Collection. 

No.  19.  JONAH  (Fine  Manner). 

Hind.  C.  I.  17. 

B.  17. 

Second  state  (B.  IIL).  Reworked;  the  lower  portion  of  the 
plate  has  been  cut  away;  the  number  17  should  now  appear  in  the 
lower  right  corner. 

(144  X los) 

Fair  impression;  the  number  17  referred  to  above  has  been 
scratched  from  this  impression  and  rewritten  with  pen  and  the  paper 
repaired  where  it  had  been  scratched. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  W.  E.  Drugulin  and  H.  F.  Sewall 
Collections. 

No.  20.  NAHUM  (Fine  Manner). 

Hind.  C.  I.  18. 

B.  18. 

Second  state  (B.  IIL).  Reworked;  the  lower  portion  of  the  plate 
has  been  cut  away;  the  number  18  should  now  appear  in  the  lower 
right  corner. 

(143  X 106) 

Good  impression;  the  number  18  referred  to  above  has  been 
scratched  from  this  impression  and  rewritten  with  pen. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  W.  E.  Drugulin  and  H.  F.  Sewall 
Collections. 


No.  21.  HABAKKUK  (Fine  Manner). 

Hind.  C.  I.  19. 

B.  19. 

66 


Second  state  (B.  III.).  Reworked;  the  lower  portion  of  the 
plate  has  been  cut  away;  the  number  19  is  added  in  the  lower  right 
corner. 

(14s  X 104) 

Fair  impression. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  H.  F.  Sewall  Collection. 

THE  SIBYLS 

No.  22.  THE  ERYTHRAEAN  SIBYL  (Broad  Manner). 

Hind.  C.  II.  5. 

B.  XIII.  97,  25. 

Second  state.  Reworked ; changes  and  additions  on  the  dress 
below  the  waist. 

(176  X 105) 

Good  impression. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection;  formerly  in  the  W.  E. 
Drugulin  and  J.  Reiss  Collections. 

No.  23.  THE  PHRYGIAN  SIBYL  (Broad  Manner). 

Hind.  C.  II.  9. 

B.  XIII.  98,  29. 

Second  state.  Coarsely  reworked. 

(178  X 102) 

Good  impression,  in  good  condition. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  H.  F.  Sewall  Collection. 

No.  24.  THE  TIBURTINE  SIBYL  (Broad  Manner). 

Hind.  C.  II.  10. 

B.  XIII.  94,  18. 

First  state. 

(180  X 107) 

Good  early  impression,  showing  plate-line. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  [Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection;  formerly  in  the 
J.  Reiss  Collection. 


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No.  17.  Prophet  Jacob.  (Fine  manner.) 
Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


No.  i8a.  Prophet  Jeremiah.  (Fine  manner.) 
Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


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No.  19.  Prophet  Jonah.  (Fine  manner.) 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


No.  20.  Prophet  Nahum.  (Fine  manner.) 
Lent  by  the  IMuseum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


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No.  22.  The  Erytkrean  Sibyl.  (Broad  manner.) 
Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


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No.  23.  The  Phrygian  Sibyl.  (Broad  manner.) 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


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No.  24.  The  Tiburtine  Sibyl.  (Broad  manner.) 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


POLLAIUOLO 


Bibliography: 

Hind.  D.  I.  p.  189  ff. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  (1811),  pp.  201-204  (3  Nos.). 

Passavant.  V.  (1864),  pp.  49,  50  (4  Nos.). 

Cruttwell,  Maud.  Antonio  Pollaiuolo.  London  1907. 

Berenson,  Bernhard.  The  Florentine  Painters  of  the  Renaissance.  3rd 
edition,  pp.  54,  55. 

“Born  in  Florence  1432:  said  to  have  been  apprenticed  to  the  goldsmith  Bartoluccio  Ghiberti  and 
to  have  assisted  Lorenzo  Ghiberti  on  the  second  of  the  doors  of  the  Baptistery  (finished  1447);  appears 
to  have  been  working  under  Piero  di  Bartolommeo  di  Sail  at  the  time  when  Finiguerra  entered  partner- 
ship with  the  latter,  and  to  have  been  still  associated  with  Finiguerra  in  1461-62,  if  not  until  Finiguerra’s 
death  in  1464.  In  1480  he  had  a goldsmith  partner  in  Paolo  di  Giovanni  Sogliani.  Commissioned  to 
execute  the  tomb  of  Sixtus  IV,  he  left  Florence  about  1484  for  Rome,  where  he  spent  most  of  the  rest 
of  his  life;  he  died  in  1498,  and  was  buried  beside  his  brother  Piero  (1496)  in  S.  Pietro  in  Vincoli.”  (PI. 
p.  189.) 

“In  the  Battle  of  Naked  Men  Pollaiuolo  has  shown,  as  completely  as  could  possibly  be  shown  with 
the  relatively  unfamiliar  means  of  graver  dnd  copper-plate,  his  full  anatomical  knowledge  of  the  details 
of  human  form,  his  masterly  power  of  drawing  figures  in  violent  movement  and  faces  expressive  of 
tragic  feeling  and  fury,  with  his  instinct  for  breadth  and  greatness  of  style.  Technically,  there  are 
certain  points  in  his  treatment  which  recall  the  practice  of  the  niello-engravers:  notably  the  deep  in- 
cision of  the  outlines  of  the  figures  and  the  relief  of  the  design  against  a darkly  shaded  background  — 
broken  up  in  this  case  with  the  stems  of  a wood  or  brake.  Tradition  represents  Pollaiuolo  as  having 
engraved  in  niello  himself  in  youth,  besides  furnishing  designs  to  be  engraved  by  Maso  Finiguerra;  and 
attempts  have  been  made  to  recognize  his  hand  in  certain  of  the  finest  extant  specimens  of  Florentine 
nielli.  . . . 

Far  more  essentially  distinctive  of  Pollaiuolo’s  technique  in  his  one  great  plate  is  his  adoption  of 
a bold  open  system  of  shading  closely  resembling  that  used  by  Andrea  Mantegna,  and  differing  from 
the  ordinary  run  of  broad-manner  work  at  Florence  by  its  use  of  the  return  stroke  at  an  acute  angle 
between  the  parallels.  . . . Comparison  with  Pollaiuolo’s  frescoes  in  the  Villa  della  Gallina  (Torre  del 
Gallo,  Arcetri,  near  Florence),  which  were  probably  done  soon  after  1464,  and  with  the  earlier  Hercules 
subjects  done  for  Lorenzo  de’  Medici  about  1460,  suggests  that  the  Battle  engraving  must  date  from 
the  decade  after  1464.  Considering  the  general  course  of  engraving  at  the  period,  it  should  probably 
be  placed  after  rather  than  before  1470.  Now,  although  Mantegna  may  not  himself  have  taken  up  the 
graver  until  after  1475,  there  is  definite  evidence  that  a school  of  engraving  was  already  in  existence 
at  Mantua  by  1475,  and  several  of  the  plates  until  recently  attributed  to  the  master,  which  are  prob- 
ably the  work  of  other  hands  after  his  drawings,  may  have  been  done  well  before  that  date.  There  is 
no  definite  reason  then  to  go  beyond  Mantua  for  Mantegna’s  inspiration,  although  the  development 
of  the  particular  characteristics  which  distinguish  his  own  work  from  that  of  the  school  may  perhaps 
owe  something  to  Pollaiuolo’s  Battle.  This  certainly  seems  more  probable  than  that  the  special  influ- 
ence was  exercised  in  the  reverse  order,  i.e.  by  Mantegna  upon  Pollaiuolo.”  (H.  pp.  190-192.) 


No.  25.  BATTLE  OF  NAKED  MEN. 

Hind.  D.  I.  i. 

B.  XIII.  202,  2. 

(394-405  X 604-613) 

87 


Extremely  fine  and  brilliant  early  impression  on  brownish  paper. 
A fold  and  perpendicular  tear  across  the  middle,  as  well  as  a few 
minor  tears,  have  been  so  carefully  repaired  as  to  be  almost  imper- 
ceptible. Such  a brilliant  impression  of  the  plate,  in  such  condition, 
is  of  the  greatest  rarity  and  only  to  be  seen  in  Vienna  (H.-B.),  Paris, 
Chatsworth,  and  in  the  collection  of  Prince  Liechtenstein. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Bishop  of  Truro  Collection. 

Paul  Kristeller  agrees  with  A.  Ad.  Hind  that  this  is  the  only  plate 
which  can  with  certainty  be  ascribed  to  the  master. 

It  is  a pleasure  to  quote  Berenson’s  vivid  comment  on  this  plate: 

“It  would  be  difficult  to  find  more  effective  illustration  of  . . . movement  than  one  or  two  of 
Pollaiuolo’s  own  works,  which,  in  contrast  to  most  of  his  achievements,  where  little  more  than  effort 
and  research  are  visible,  are  really  masterpieces  of  life-communicating  art.  Let  us  look  first  at  his  en- 
graving known  as  the  ‘Battle  of  the  Nudes.’  What  is  it  that  makes  us  return  to  this  sheet  with  ever 
renewed,  ever  increased  pleasure.^  Surely  it  is  not  the  hideous  faces  of  most  of  the  figures  and  their 
scarcely  less  hideous  bodies.  Nor  is  it  the  pattern  as  decorative  design,  which  is  of  great  beauty  indeed, 
but  not  at  all  in  proportion  to  the  spell  exerted  upon  us.  Least  of  all  is  it  — for  most  of  us  — an  inter- 
est in  the  technique  or  history  of  engraving.  No,  the  pleasure  we  take  in  these  savagely  battling  forms 
arises  from  their  power  to  directly  communicate  life,  to  immensely  heighten  our  sense  of  vitality. 
Look  at  the  combatant  prostrate  on  the  ground  and  his  assailant  bending  over,  each  intent  on  stabbing 
the  other.  See  how  the  prostrate  man  plants  his  foot  on  the  thigh  of  his  enemy,  and  note  the  tremen- 
dous energy  he  exerts  to  keep  off  the  foe,  who,  turning  as  upon  a pivot,  with  his  grip  on  the  other’s 
head,  exerts  no  less  force  to  keep  the  advantage  gained.  The  significance  of  all  these  muscular  strains 
and  pressures  is  so  rendered  that  we  cannot  help  realizing  them;  we  imagine  ourselves  imitating  all 
the  movements,  and  exerting  the  force  required  for  them  — and  all  without  the  least  effort  on  our  side. 
If  all  this  without  moving  a muscle,  what  should  we  feel  if  we  too  had  exerted  ourselves!  And  thus 
while  under  the  spell  of  this  illusion  — this  hyperaesthesia  not  bought  with  drugs,  and  not  paid  for 
with  cheques  drawn  on  our  vitality  — we  feel  as  if  the  elixir  of  life,  not  our  own  sluggish  blood,  were 
coursing  through  our  veins.”  (Berenson,  B.  The  Florentine  Painters  of  the  Renaissance.  3rd  ed. 
Putnam.  N.  Y.  pp.  54,  55.) 


88 


No.  25.  Battle  of  Naked  Men,  by  Antonio  Pollaiuolo. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


CRISTOFANO  ROBETTA 


Bibliography: 

Hind.  D.  II.  p.  195  ff- 

Bartsch.  XIII.  pp.  392-407  (26  Nos.). 

Passavant.  V.  pp.  57-61  (36  Nos.). 

Vasari  (ed.  Milanesi).  Vol.  VI.  (in  life  of  G.  F.  Rustici),  p.  609,  note  3. 

“The  son  of  a hosier;  born  Florence,  1462;  was  working  in  his  father’s  shop  in  1480;  afterwards 
turned  to  th,e  craft  of  the  goldsmith,  which  he  was  practising  in  1498;  mentioned  by  Vasari  as  belonging 
to  a dining  society  of  Twelve  called  the  Compagnia  del  Paiuolo  (the  ‘Kettle’);  working  until  1522. 

The  lack  of  severe  artistic  training  which  is  suggested  by  the  facts  known  of  Roberta’s  history  is 
reflected  in  the  style  of  his  prints.  He  shows  little  certainty  of  touch  or  method  either  in  drawing  or 
engraving:  he  has  assimilated  something  of  Diirer’s  manner  of  handling,  without  attaining  anything 
like  the  precision  and  subtlety  of  that  master  in  working  his  hatched  shadows;  qualities  which  are 
of  the  essence  of  Diirer’s  greatness  as  an  engraver.  He  has  a tendency  to  render  form,  both  in  figures 
and  landscape,  with  clusters  of  undulating  curves  that  but  tentatively  and  imperfectly  express  his 
meaning.  But  in  spite  of  his  lack  of  grip  in  drawing  and  affectations  of  style,  he  seldom  fails  to  put  into 
his  work  the  peculiar  quality  of  grace  and  charm  which  belongs  to  so  many  of  the  secondary  Florentine 
artists  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Botticelli  and  Filippino  Lippi. 

Filippino  was  evidently  Robetta’s  chief  inspirer,  though  there  are  only  a few  cases  where  he  can 
be  shown  to  have  worked  directly  from  that  painter’s  designs.  The  Adoration  is  adapted  from  the 
picture  in  the  Uffizi  (of  1496).  . . . Like  most  Italian  engravers  of  the  period,  who  preserved  a certain 
measure  of  originality  even  when  working  from  designs  supplied  by  other  masters,  Roberta  may  be 
said  to  adapt  and  interpret  rather  than  reproduce.  In  the  Adoration  in  particular  the  group  of  singing 
angels  is  a graceful  invention  of  his  own  which  does  not  occur  in  Filippino’s,  picture.  . . . One  of  Ro- 
betta’s original  copper-plates  is  in  the  British  Museum  (from  the  Vallardi  collection).  It  is  engraved 
on  one  side  with  the  Adoration  and  on  the  other  with  the  Allegory  of  the  Power  of  Love.  Modern  im- 
pressions from  this  plate  are  by  no  means  uncommon.”  (H.  pp.  195-197.) 

No.  26.  THE  ADORATION  OF  THE  MAGI. 

Hind.  D.  II.  6. 

B.  XIII.  396,  6. 

(29s  X 279) 

Very  fine  early  impression,  in  perfect  condition. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection;  formerly  in  the  Alfred 
Morrison  Collection. 


No.  27.  MUCIUS  SCAEVOLA. 

Hind.  D.  II.  II. 

B.  XHI.  407,  26. 

Second  state,  clouds  added. 

(207  X 150) 


91 


Good  impression,  but  showing  some  pen  work. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  H.  F.  Sewall  Collection. 


No.  28.  ALLEGORY  OF  ABUNDANCE. 

Hind.  D.  II.  13. 

B.  XIII.  403,  18. 

(250  X 185) 

Good  impression. 

Lent  by  the  Aluseum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  H.  F.  Sewall  Collection. 


No.  29.  ALLEGORY  OF  ENVY. 

Hind.  D.  II.  15. 

B.  XHI.  405,  24. 

(258  X 183) 

Fair  impression  of  a late  and  apparently  reworked  state  of  the 
plate,  showing  marks  of  rivet-holes  near  the  upper  and  lower  edges 
of  the  plate.  Condition  poor. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs. 

No.  30.  ALLEGORY  OF  THE  POWER  OF  LOVE. 

Hind.  D.  II.  16. 

B.  XHI.  406,  25. 

(293  X 272) 

Good  impression,  and,  judged  by  the  watermark  (Briquet  491), 
probably  printed  in  the  XVI  century. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Aluseum,  Harvard  University. 


92 


No.  26.  The  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  by  Cristofano  Robetta. 
Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


/ 


MUCIUS  SCAEVOLA,  BY  CrISTOFANO  RobETTA. 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


No.  28.  Allegory  of  Abundance,  by  Cristofano  Robetta, 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


No.  29.  Allegory  of  Envy,  by  Cristofano  Robetta. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  Jo  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


No.  30.  Allegory  of  the  Power  of  Love,  by  Cristofano  Robetta. 
Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


“THE  TAROCCHI  CARDS” 


Bibliography: 

Hind.  p.  217  fF. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  p.  120  ff.,  Nos.  18-67. 

Passavant.  V.  p.  1 19  fF.,  Nos.  1-50. 

Merlin,  R.  Origine  des  cartes  a jouer.  Paris  1869. 

Kolloff,  in  Meyer’s  Allgemeines  Kiinstlerlexikon  II.  Baldini  I.  Nos. 
64-113. 

Kristeller,  Paul.  Graphische  Gesellschaft.  Die  Tarocchi,  zwei  italienische 
kupferstichfolgen  aus  dem  XV.  jahrhundert.  Berlin  1910. 

There  is  included  in  this  exhibition  an  impression  of  each  of  the 
so-called  Tarocchi  Cards  — some  in  the  E series  and  some  in  the  S 
series,  as  hereinafter  explained.  There  have  been  hung  on  the  walls, 
with  a few  exceptions,  only  those  Cards  of  which  there  are  available 
impressions  from  both  series.  Some  only  of  these  are  reproduced 
(Nos.  3 1-42).  The  remaining  Cards  may  be  seen  upon  application 
at  the  desk.  None  of  the  Cards  here  shown  are  described,  as  in  the 
case  of  all  other  prints  in  this  exhibition.  Mr.  Emil  H.  Richter,  of 
the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston,  will  doubtless  describe  these 
plates  with  his  usual  care  in  an  article  which  he  has  prepared  for  the 
Print  Collectors^  Quarterly,  1916. 

For  a detailed  extant  description,  however,  of  all  of  the  Cards ^ in 
both  series,  the  student  is  referred  to  Mr.  Flind’s  brilliant  study  of 
the  subject  (Hind.  pp.  217-272)  from  which  it  has  been  deemed 
best  to  quote  the  passages  that  follow.  At  the  same  time  particular 
attention  should  be  called  to  Paul  Kristeller’s  work  on  the  subject 
which  contains  a reproduction  of  each  card  in  both  series  so  arranged 
that  the  different  versions  of  the  same  design  may  be  readily  com- 
pared. As  a result  of  his  researches  Dr.  Kristeller  reaches  the  con- 
clusion that  the  S series  antedates  the  E series,  which  Sir  Sidney 
Colvin  and  Mr.  Hind  consider  to  be  the  originals  from  which  the  S 
series  was  copied.  The  compiler  of  this  Catalogue  takes  the  view 
held  by  the  British  Museum  authorities. 

“This  much  discussed  and  most  interesting  series  consists  of  five  sets  (we  will  not  call  them  suits, 
for  reasons  immediately  to  be  explained)  of  ten  cards  each.  Its  traditional  title,  the  ‘Tarocchi  Cards 
of  Mantegna,’  is  unfortunate,  since  the  series  neither  forms  a pack  of  tarocchi  [playing  cards]  nor  bears 


103 


any  near  or  definite  relation  to  Mantegna.  The  number  of  the  prints  (fifty)  excludes  the  possibility  of 
their  use  as  tarocchi,  tarocchini  (of  Bologna)  or  minchiate  (in  which  seventy-eight,  sixty-two,  and  ninety- 
seven  cards  respectively  made  up  the  full  pack).  Then  the  place  or  value  of  any  given  card  in  a set  is 
indicated  only  by  a numeral  in  the  corner,  not  by  a corresponding  number  of  pips  or  suitmarks  figured 
on  the  card  itself,  which  is  the  almost  invariable  manner  of  numbering  playing-cards. 

It  is  true  that  these  prints  are  of  much  the  same  size  and  character  as  the  figure-cards  in  the  fine 
illuminated  packs  of  tarocchi  which  were  in  fashion  in  the  fifteenth  century  both  for  use  and  as  presents, 
especially,  it  would  seem,  wedding-presents,  among  rich  nobles  and  princes,  and  of  which  several  are 
still  extant.  . . . 

It  is  also  true  that  sets  of  woodcuts  or  engravings  illustrating  subjects  which  do  not  seem  to  us 
at  all  adapted  for  games  appear  nevertheless  to  have  been  certainly  used  for  that  purpose  — witness 
the  following  entries  in  the  Rosselli  inventory:  ‘Game  of  our  Lord  and  the  Apostles,  in  seven  pieces 
(woodblocks)’;  ‘Game  of  the  seven  \’lrtues,  in  five  pieces  (woodblocks)’;  ‘Game  of  the  I'riumphs  of 
Petrarch,  in  three  pieces’;  ‘Game  of  the  Planets  with  their  borders,  in  four  pieces.’  But  in  the  case 
of  the  present  series  no  impressions  mounted  on  card  for  playing  purposes  are  known  to  exist,  while 
on  the  other  hand  there  exist  several  examples  of  the  entire  series  bound  as  a volume,  and  some  of 
these  seem  to  go  back  to  the  original  period  of  publication;  facts  which  furnish  an  argument  of  some 
weight  against  the  theory  that  thet'  were  intended  for  use  as  playing  cards  of  any  kind. 

But  whether  meant  to  be  adapted  to  any  game  or  not,  the  series  seems  undoubtedly  designed  in 
the  first  instance  to  form  a compendium,  such  as  might  have  been  intended  for  the  edification  of  youth, 
of  instruction  in  the  mediaeval  \ iew  of  the  universe,  witli  its  systematic  classification  of  the  various 
piowers  of  heaven  and  earth.  It  may  be  that  the  artist  had  also  in  view  the  multifarious  uses  that  a 
scries  of  designs  on  a popular  range  of  subjects  might  offer.  The  large  number  of  copies  from  the  series 
that  are  known  in  the  various  mediums  of  miniature,  majolica,  sculpture,  medal,  drawing  and  wood- 
cut,  suggest  that  one  at  least  of  the  author’s  aims  may  have  been  the  dissemination  of  sets  of  the  prints 
as  patterns  in  the  workshops  and  studios  of  the  various  minor  crafts. 

The  traditional  cycle  of  powers  and  personified  abstractions  which  in  the  middle  ages  were  thought 
of  partly  as  t\'pif>'ing  or  representing,  partly  as  actually  governing,  the  processes  of  nature  and  man’s 
mind,  consisted  for  the  most  part,  as  is  well  known,  of  various  groups  of  seven  each;  the  seven  Planets; 
the  seven  Virtues,  four  cardinal  and  three  theological;  the  seven  Vices  or  Deadly  Sins;  the  seven  Liberal 
,\rts,  three  composing  the  trivium  and  four  the  quadrivium;  and  so  forth.  But  the  groups  into  which 
the  present  series  is  divided  are  groups  not  of  seven  each  but  of  ten,  possibly  from  the  analogy  of  the 
ten  pip  cards  in  a playing-pack,  possibly  because  the  plan  of  the  series  required  that  one  of  the  groups 
should  consist  of  .Apollo  and  the  nine  Muses.  . . . 

Such  personified  abstractions  had  been  made  familiar  not  only  to  the  minds,  but  to  the  mind’s 
eyes,  of  men  by  a long  succession  of  allegoric  writings  in  prose  and  verse,  in  which  the  narrow  and  rigid 
cncvclopaedic  conceptions  of  the  dark  and  middle  ages  were  summed  up.  . . . 

All  students  will  be  familiar  with  the  presence  of  the  embodied  Virtues  and  Vices  in  an  encyclo- 
paedic s-eries  of  paintings  like  those  of  Giotto  in  the  Arena  chapel  at  Padua,  or  of  the  Seven  Liberal 
.Arts,  each  witli  her  respective  votary,  among  the  decorations  of  the  Spanish  Chapel  in  S.  Maria  Novella. 
The  fifteenth  centurj',  with  its  passion  for  heraldrjq  carried  matters  farther  still,  and  assigned  fixed 
and  formal  armorial  bearings  and  devices  not  only  to  the  whole  cycle  of  personages  of  ancient  history 
with  which  it  was  familiar,  but  to  personified  abstractions  belonging  to  that  other  cycle  of  which  we 
speak.  . . . 

d'his  series,  then,  composes  a kind  of  portable  encyclopaedia  of  Men,  Muses,  Arts,  Virtues,  and 
Planets.  It  is  designed  in  a manner  and  on  a scale  nearly  resembling  those  o,f  the  figure  — or,  as  we 
should  say,  the  court  — cards  in  the  illuminated  packs  of  playing-cards  which  w'e  have  already  men- 
tioned as  a current  product  of  the  courtly  art  of  the  time. 

Moreover,  its  subjects  have  evidently  some  historical  and  symbolical  connexion,  though  exactly 
what  is  hard  to  determine,  wdth  the  pack  employed  in  the  regular  Venetian  or  Lombard  game  of  ta- 
rocchi. . . . 

Of  that  series  there  exist  two  distinct  versions,  one  original  and  one  freely  copied  from  it.  Both 
series  are  numbered  continuously  from  beginning  to  end,  and  each  of  the  five  sets  of  ten  is  marked  by 
its  own  letter.  In  the  original  series  the  lettering  runs  thus;  l-io  (E);  11-20  (D);  21-30  (C);  31- 
40  (B);  41-50  (A);  the  alphabetical  order  being  in  reverse  of  the  numerical,  so  that  following  the  numer- 
ical you  ascend  from  the  lowest  estate  of  man  to  the  high  seat  and  mystery  of  God,  and  following  the 
alphabetical,  you  descend  from  the  summit  to  the  foot  of  the  same  scale.  In  the  second  series  S is 
substituted  for  K as  the  letter-mark  of  the  first  ten  numbers;  hence  the  two  series  are  sometimes  dis- 
tinguished as  the  E and  the  S scries  respectiveh'.  The  original  or  E series  is  engraved  with  remarkable 
technical  precision  and  neatness  in  fine  rectangular  cross-hatchings  more  cleanly  cut  and  clearly  printed 
than  those  of  the  Florentine  fine-manner  prints,  or  indeed  than  any  other  Italian  prints  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  d’he  second  or  S scries  is  feebly  cut  in  imitation  of  the  first  by  a craftsman  of  little  training. 


104 


who  cannot  well  control  his  graver  but  constantly  lets  his  lines  of  shading  slip  over  the  boundary  lines 
of  his  figures.  . . . 

The  original  (E)  series  is  marked  by  a decisive  unity  of  style  and  by  enough  of  archaic  quaintness 
and  rigidity  to  fix  its  date,  apart  from  all  other  indications,  as  well  within  the  third  quarter  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  . . . 

As  to  the  designs,  more  than  one  hand  may  have  been  employed  on  them,  but  they  all  bear  the 
sharply  defined  characters  of  a single  school,  and  that  is  the  school  of  Ferrara,  as  it  was  formed,  partly 
under  influences  from  Padua  and  Verona  from  the  north,  and  partly  under  that  of  the  Umbro-Florentine 
Piero  della  Francesca,  in  the  middle  years  of  the  century  during  the  reigns  of  the  Dukes  Lionello,  Borso, 
and  Ercole  I.  d’  Este  (that  of  Duke  Borso,  1450-1471,  covering  the  years  with  which  we  are  practically 
concerned).  The  peculiar  Ferrarese  break  and  complication  of  drapery,  the  partiality  for  large  heads 
and  bulging  foreheads  and  for  facial  expressions  of  harsh  intensity;  these,  with  man\'  characteristic  fea- 
tures both  of  landscape  and  of  costume,  declare  the  school  at  once.  The  particular  painter  of  whom 
the  series  most  often  reminds  us  is  Francesco  Cossa,  in  whose  style  the  influence  of  Piero  della  Francesca 
has  gone  far  to  temper  the  asperities  and  exaggerations  characteristic  of  the  other  contemporary  chief 
of  the  school,  Cosimo  Tura.  Several  of  the  human  personages  in  the  first  set  or  suit  of  ten  find  in  type, 
costume,  and  action  their  almost  exact  counterparts  in  the  frescoes  attributed  to  Cossa  and  his  pupils 
in  the  Schifanoia  palace  (painted  about  1467-1471).  . . . 

It  would  be  unreasonable  to  suppose,  however,  that  the  designs  for  these  prints  were  furnished  by 
Cossa  himself  or  any  of  the  greater  masters  of  the  school.  (Harzen  long  ago  suggested  Marco  Zoppo, 
but  his  is  a style  more  strictly  Paduan  and  Squarcionesque.)  They  were  doubtless  done  more  or  less 
under  Cossa’s  influence  by  some  one  or  more  among  the  almost  innumerable  minor  craftsmen  whom 
we  know  to  have  been  employed  at  the  court  of  Borso  d’  Este.  No  other  potentate  of  the  time  was  so 
great  a patron  of  the  arts  of  miniature  painting  and  illuminating.  Besides  native  craftsmen,  he  gathered 
about  him  many  from  other  parts  of  Italy  and  from  Germany.  . . . 

As  to  the  question  who  engraved  the  plates,  and  whether  draughtsman  and  engraver  were  one 
and  the  same  person  — we  have  no  documentary  evidence  to  prove  the  presence  of  any  pi'ofessed 
engraver  at  Ferrara.  ...  So  until  further  evidence  is  forthcoming  we  must  be  content  to  localise  the 
design  only  of  the  present  series  with  certainty  at  F'errara,  and  to  leave  open  the  question  whether  it 
was  engraved  at  Ferrara  or  at  Venice. 

Coming  to  the  series  of  copies  or  S series,  we  find  in  it  the  work  of  a better-informed  and  obvi- 
ously later,  draughtsman  and  a much  laxer  and  less  precise  engraver.  Whether  engraver  and  draughts- 
man were  one  and  the  same  person  can  in  this  case  also  not  be  positively  stated.  Both  in  drawing  and 
technique,  this  version  has  more  of  a Florentine  character  than  the  earlier  one;  several  fresh  architec- 
tural and  ornamental  details  in  a Florentine  style  are  introduced;  the  tense,  formal,  somewhat  cramped 
archaic  character  of  the  originals  is  modified  in  the  direction  of  greater  freedom  and  truth  to  nature, 
but  with  much  loss  of  power  and  impressiveness.  The  size  of  the  figures  in  proportion  to  the  space  to 
be  filled,  and  of  the  heads  in  proportion  to  the  figures,  is  in  most  cases  reduced;  to  some  of  the  forced 
angular  actions  a more  easy  and  flowing  rhythm  is  given;  but  the  austere  strength  of  expression  in 
many  of  the  faces  gives  way  to  characterless  weakness,  especially  in  the  feebly  drawn  mouths.  A 
number  of  small  changes  and  corrections  are  made,  some  for  the  better  and  some  for  the  worse.  . . . 
From  the  technical  point  of  view,  the  engraving  of  the  S series  is  far  less  precise  and  neat  than  that  of 
the  E;  so  far  as  work  so  timid  and  styleless  can  be  said  to  have  a character,  it  is  in  the  character,  or 
tradition,  of  the  Florentine  fine-manner  prints,  and  may  have  been  done  by  an  otherwise  unknown 
craftsman  either  belonging  to  that  school  or  much  influenced  by  it. 

As  to  the  date  of  the  S series,  from  the  general  difference  of  stjde  and  feeling  we  should  be  dis- 
posed to  put  it  not  much  less  than  twenty  years  later  than  the  E.”  (H.  pp.  217-230.) 


105 


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No.  3 IE.  Urania.  (Tarocchi.) 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston, 


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VRANIAXll 


No.  3 IS.  Urania.  (Tarocchi.) 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


No.  32E.  Thalia.  (Tarocchi.) 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


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No.  32s.  Thalia.  (TarocchL) 

Lent  by  llie  Fogg  Art  !Muscum,  Harvard  Univcrsitv. 


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No.  33E.  Euterpe.  (Tarocchi.) 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


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No.  33s.  Euterpe.  (Tarocchi.) 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


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No.  34E.  Clio.  (Tarocchi.) 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


No.  34s.  Clio.  (Tarocchi.) 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


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No.  35E.  Rhetoric.  (Tarocchi.) 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


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No.  35s.  Rhetoric.  (Tarocchi.) 

Lent  I>y  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


No.  36E.  Temperance.  (Tarocchi.) 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


No.  36s.  Temperance.  (Tarocchi.) 
Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


PRVDENCIAXXXV 

No.  37E.  Prudence.  (Tarocchi.) 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


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No.  37s.  Prudence.  (Tarocchi.) 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


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No.  38s,  Charity.  (Tarocchi.) 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


No.  39E.  Hope.  (Tarocchi.) 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


No.  39s.  Hope.  (Tarocchi.) 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


No.  40E.  Moon.  (Tarocchi.) 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


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No.  40s.  Moon.  (Tarocchi.) 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


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No.  41E.  Venus.  (Tarocchi.) 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


No.  41S.  Venus.  (Tarocchi.) 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


SOL  xxxxim 


No.  42E.  Sun.  (Tarocchi.) 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


No.  42s.  Sun.  (Tarocchi.) 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


ENGRAVINGS  OF  MISCELLANEOUS  AND 
UNCERTAIN  SCHOOLS 


LATER  PERIOD  (XVI  CENTURY) 

Under  this  heading  Mr.  Hind  describes  forty  different  prints,  of 
which  he  assigns  fifteen  to  the  XV  century  and  twenty-five  to  the 
XVI  century.  He  considers  all  of  the  forty  as  the  work  of  anony- 
mous masters,  and  thus  differs  again  from  Dr.  Kristeller,  who  gives  defi- 
nite attributions  in  some  cases.  Unfortunately  it  has  not  been  found 
possible  to  secure  impressions  of  any  of  the  Earlier  Period  and  only 
two  of  the  Later  Period.  For  a detailed  description  of  these  refer- 
ence is  made  to  Hind.  pp.  314-316,  Nos.  17  and  19. 

No.  43.  DAVID  BLESSED  BY  NATHAN  BEFORE  BATTLE. 

Hind.  F.  II.  17. 

B.  XV.  22,  I. 

P.  V.  178,  3 and  VI.  80,  45. 

First  state. 

(250  X 19s) 

Fine  impression,  showing  plate-line. 

Watermark;  Briquet  58. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University;  formerly  in  the  Arozarena,  Baron  von 
Lanna  and  Brayton  Ives  Collections. 

“The  engraving  is  probably  the  work  of  some  third-rate  craftsman  of  the  Roman  school  during 
the  first  three  decades  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  building  in  the  background,  adapted  from  Bra- 
mante’s  chapel  in  S.  Pietro  in  Montorio  at  Rome,  is  a strong  argument  for  its  Roman  origin.”  (H, 
p.  314.) 

No.  44.  THE  ADORATION  OF  THE  MAGI. 

Hind.  F.  II.  19. 

B.  XIII.  73,  I. 

Second  state,  with  the  address  of  Salamanca. 

(161  X 237) 


155 


Good  impression,  showing  plate-line.  The  plate  slipped  a little 
in  the  printing,  giving  a slightly  blurry  look  to  the  lines. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Aluseum,  Harvard  University;  formerly  in  the  Firmin-Didot  Collection. 

“From  the  form  of  the  fortress,  which  is  clearly  modelled  on  the  Castello  di  S.  Angelo  and  bears 
the  arms  of  Pope  Julius  II,  the  present  engraving  is  almost  certainly  a Roman  production.  . . . The 
period  of  Julius’  office,  1503-15 13,  sets  limits  for  the  date  of  the  print.  It  may  be  noted  that  Sixtus  IV 
(Pope  1471-84),  another  member  of  the  della  Rovere  family,  used  the  same  coat  of  arms,  but  this  early 
date  is  out  of  the  question.  The  style  of  engraving  ...  is  like  a coarse  and  clumsy  caricature  of  the 
manner  of  Roberta.  . . . The  attribution  to  Lucantonio  degli  Uberti  (see  P.  Kristeller,  Early  Florentine 
JVoodcuts,  London  1897,  p.  xliii)  does  not  carry  conviction.”  (H.  p.  316.) 


No.  43.  David  Blessed,  by  Nathan  before  Battle. 

Lent  by  the  Fojrg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


No.  44.  The  Adoration  of  the  Magi. 
Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


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ENGRAVINGS  OF  MANTEGNA  AND  HIS 

SCHOOL 


Bibliography: 

Hind.  pp.  329  ff. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  (1811),  pp.  222-243. 

Passavant.  V.  (1864),  pp.  73-78. 

Kristeller,  P.  Andrea  Mantegna.  London  1901  (Leipzig  1902). 

Yriarte,  C.  Mantegna.  Paris  1901. 

Thode,  H.  Mantegna  (Kiinstler-Monographien).  Bielefeld  and  Leipzig 
1897. 

Duplessis,  G.  Oeuvre  d’Andrea  Mantegna  reproduit  et  public  par  Armand- 
Durand.  Texte  par  G.  D.,  Paris  1878. 

Berenson,  B.  North  Italian  Painters. 

This  exhibition  contains  an  impression  from  each  of  the  seven 
plates  which  modern  criticism  attributes  definitely  to  Mantegna. 
Some  of  these  impressions  are  of  extraordinary  beauty,  and  all  of 
them  are  satisfactory.  Of  the  other  eighteen  plates,  now  classed 
as  School  work,  there  are  here  exhibited  impressions  from  ten. 

Andrea  Mantegna  was  born  at  Vicenza  in  143 1 and  died  in 
Mantua,  September  13,  1506.  In  1441  he  was  studying  in  Padua 
under  Squarcione,  who  had  adopted  him.  He  was  greatly  influenced 
by  Donatello,  who  worked  in  Padua  from  1444  to  1453.  In  1453  he 
married  the  daughter  of  Jacopo  Bellini.  In  1459  he  went  to  Mantua 
to  enter  the  service  of  Lodovico  Gonzaga.  From  1488  to  1490  he  was 
in  Rome  working  for  Innocent  VIII,  after  which  he  returned  to 
Mantua.  Mantegna’s  career  as  a painter  is  so  well  known  that  it 
is  unnecessary  to  refer  to  it  here. 

“Mantegna’s  mode  of  handling  the  graver,  in  his  undisputed  works,  belongs  to  the  broad  manner 
in  its  general  imitation  of  pen  drawing,  only  he  had  more  methodically  developed  the  system  of  lightly 
engraved  strokes  laid  at  an  acute  angle  between  his  principal  lines,  thus  closely  imitating  the  return 
stroke  characteristic  of  his  own  pen  drawings  (e.g.  the  Virgin  and  Child  enthroned  with  an  Angel  and  a 
Study  fro'm  the  Nude  in  the  British  Museum).  This  scheme  finds  its  nearest  parallel  in  Pollaiuolo’s  Battle 
of  Naked  Men.  Pollaiuolo’s  stroke  and  return  stroke  are  in  fact  even  more  regular  than  Mantegna’s, 
appearing  unbroken,  like  lines  made  with  the  pen  drawn  backwards  and  forwards  without  lifting; 
they  are  moreover  nearly  of  one  breadth,  while  in  Mantegna’s  work  the  return  or  cross  strokes  are  much 
more  lightly  engraved  than  the  main  parallel  lines.  Pollaiuolo,  again,  rarely  defines  the  several  parts 

161 


and  muscles  of  the  body  by  lines  as  Mantegna  does.  In  the  work  of  both,  the  principal  outlines  are 
strong  and  deep,  but  in  Mantegna  the  furrow  is  more  irregular,  often  distinctly  disclosing  the  repeated 
strokes  of  the  graver  which  achieved  its  breadth.  In  Mantegna’s  work  the  lighter  lines,  which  almost 
entirely  disappear  with  a few  printings,  seem  generally  to  be  lightly  scratched  rather  than  engraved, 
and  in  two  plates  in  particular  [Nos.  45  and  49],  there  is  a lack  of  clear  definition  in  the  lines,  which 
has  been  explained  as  possibly  due  to  the  use  of  a round-bellied  graver  (of  a scorper  shape)  on  a plate 
of  somewhat  soft  and  unbeaten  copper.  The  broken  nature  of  the  lines  in  the  earliest  impressions 
must  be  largely  due  to  the  use  of  an  ink  of  thin  consistency,  which  was  not  properly  absorbed  by  the 
paper.  If  the  printing  was  done  by  hand  pressure,  as  seems  probable  in  many  cases,  this  irregular 
quality  of  the  line  would  be  still  further  accounted  for.”  (H.  pp.  330-331.) 

“The  question  of  authorship  among  the  engravings  formerly  attributed  to  Mantegna  but  now 
rejected,  and  among  the  various  copies  both  after  these  and  the  authentic  prints,  is  extremely  difficult. 
The  division  between  Zoan  Andrea  and  Giovanni  Antonio  da  Brescia  attempted  by  Bartsch  may  be 
partly  right,  but  is  very  uncertain  and  tentative.  We  now  know  that  more  hands  than  these  were 
engaged,  legitimately  or  piratically,  in  engraving  from  Mantegna’s  designs  or  copying  his  own  en- 
gravings. . . .”  (H.  p.  336.) 


I 

ORIGINAL  ENGRAVINGS  BY  ANDREA  MANTEGNA 
No.  45.  THE  VIRGIN  AND  CHILD. 

Hind.  p.  337,  I. 

B.  XIII.  232,  8. 

Second  state,  aureoles  added. 

(244  X 208) 

Fair  impression  in  brown  ink.  Much  repaired  and  upper  right 
corner  torn  off  and  replaced. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection. 

No.  46.  BACCHANALIAN  GROUP  WITH  SILENUS. 

Hind.  p.  338,  2. 

B.  XIII.  240,  20. 

(330  x44s) 

Fine  impression  in  black  ink  from  a reworked  state  of  the  plate, 
showing  the  plate-line  at  right  (the  plate  is  irregular  in  shape).  Con- 
dition good  with  exception  of  a few  weak  spots  and  several  tears 
which  have  been  carefully  mended.  Watermark;  Briquet  12502. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection. 

In  the  Albertina  there  is  a drawing  by  Diirer  after  this  print, 
which  bears  the  date  1494  and  which  shows  that  this  engraving  was 
made  before  that  date. 


162 


No.  47.  BACCHANALIAN  GROUP  WITH  SILENUS. 

Hind.  p.  338,  2*. 

B.  XIII.  240,  20  (copy). 

P.  V.  83,  42  [Zoan  Andrea]. 

A close  copy  of  No.  46.  The  variations  from  the  original  are 
slight.  The  one  most  easily  noted  is  this : the  back  portion  of  the 
right  cloven  hoof  of  the  satyr  who  helps  to  support  Silenus  is  with- 
out the  three  little  horizontal  lines  which  occur  in  the  original  version. 

(289  X 446) 

Good  impression,  in  good  condition  except  for  the  tear  through 
the  centre  from  the  upper  edge  extending  three-quarters  across  the 
print.  The  print  has  been  strengthened  by  backing. 

Lent  fay  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection. 


No.  48.  BACCHANALIAN  GROUP  WITH  SILENUS. 

Hind.  p.  338,  2**. 

B.  XIII.  357,2. 

Copy  in  reverse  of  No.  46,  much  reduced  in  size. 

(145x220)  ^ 

Good  impression  with  margin. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection. 

No.  49.  BACCHANALIAN  GROUP  WITH  A WINE-PRESS. 

Hind.  p.  339,  3. 

B.  XIII.  240,  19. 

(300  X 427) 

Fine  early  impression  in  gray  ink.  Condition  good  except  for  the 
fact  that  a part  of  the  print  has  been  cut  off  at  the  top,  varying  in 
width  from  30  mm.  to  45  mm.,  but  cleverly  restored. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Brentano,  J.  S.  Morgan  and  Brayton  Ives 
Collections. 

No.  50.  BATTLE  OF  SEA-GODS : the  Left  Portion  of  a 
Frieze. 

Hind.  p.  340,  4. 

B.  XIII.  239,  18. 

(295x433) 


163 


Extremely  fine  early  impression  in  brown  ink  on  brownish  paper, 
showing  a portion  of  the  plate-line,  and  in  almost  perfect  condition. 
Some  of  the  shadows  have  been  deepened  with  washes  of  color. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  Julian  Marshall,  J.  Reiss  and 
Francis  Bullard  Collections. 

The  original  drawing  for  this  plate  is  in  the  Chatsworth  Collec- 
tion (reprod.  in  Kristeller,  Mantegna,  fig.  151,  and  S.  A.  Strong, 
Drawings  in  Chatsworth,  1902,  pi.  4).  There  is  a terra  cotta  relief  in 
the  Museo  Nazionale  at  Ravenna,  which  may  have  inspired  this 
engraving  or  which  may  be  made  after  it.  This  terra  cotta  has  been 
reproduced  in  Delaborde’s  Gravure  en  Italie  avant  Marc  Antoine,  1882. 


No.  51.  BATTLE  OF  SEA-GODS : the  Right  Portion  of  a 
Frieze. 

Hind.  p.  J4I,  ?. 

B.  XIII.  238,  17. 

(291  X 399)  . 

Fair  impression  on  brown  paper;  laid  down  and  somewhat  torn 
and  mended. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection. 

In  the  Albertina  there  is  a drawing  by  Diirer  after  this  print, 
which  has  the  date  1494  and  which  shows  that  this  engraving  was 
made  before  that  date. 

No.  52.  THE  ENTOMBMENT  (horizontal  plate). 

Hind.  p.  341,  6. 

B.  XHI.  229,  3. 

(274x431) 

Fine  early  impression,  but  cut. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection. 

No.  53.  THE  RISEN  CHRIST  BETWEEN  SS.  ANDREW 
AND  LONGINUS. 

Hind.  p.  342,  7. 

B.  XHI.  231,6. 

(382  X 311) 


164 


Fair  impression  in  brownish  ink,  but  condition  poor. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Francis  Bullard  and  Brayton  Ives  Collections. 

“The  general  character  of  the  design,  and  a detail  such  as  the  projection  of  S.  Andrew’s  foot  from 
the  base,  seem  to  point,  as  Dr.  Kristeller  suggests,  to  a design  for  sculpture.”  (H.  p.  335.) 

II 

SCHOOL  OF  MANTEGNA 

No.  54.  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  CAESAR:  The  Elephants. 

Hind.  p.  343,  I. 

B.  XIII.  23s,  12. 

(284  X 268) 

Good  impression,  in  good  condition. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection. 

“The  fifth  of  Mantegna’s  Triumph  subjects.  The  nine  ‘cartoons’  of  the  Triumph  of  Caesar 
(strictly  paintings  executed  in  tempera  on  paper  stretched  on  canvas),  which  the  master  did  for  Francesco 
Gonzaga,  were  purchased  by  Daniel  Nys  for  Charles  I soon  after  1627,  and  are  now  to  be  seen,  defaced 
by  successive  restorations,  in  Hampton  Court.  . . . The  engraving  of  the  Elephants  is  very  like  Man- 
tegna’s authentic  work,  but  lacks  his  distinction  in  drawing.  . . . Moreover  it  would  have  been  con- 
trary to  the  general  usage  of  painter-engravers  that  he  should  make  a finished  engraving  of  a design 
he  intended  to  carry  out  in  another  medium.  There  is  nothing  to  show  for  certain  whether  Mantegna 
himself  conceived  and  directed  the  reproduction  on  copper  of  those  Triumph  designs,  or  whether  it  was 
the  independent  undertaking  of  engravers  who  had  chanced  to  get  possession  of  some  of  the  original 
drawings,  perhaps  after  the  master’s  death.  But  the  incompleteness  of  the  set  seems  to  make  in  favor 
of  the  latter  supposition.”  (H.  p.  344.) 

No.  55.  THE  TRIUMPH  OF  CAESAR:  Soldiers  Carrying 
Trophies. 

Hind.  p.  345,  2. 

B.  XIII.  236,  13. 

(260  X 234) 

Good  impression  on  gray  paper,  possibly  reworked. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection;  formerly  in  the  Noseda 
and  William  Bell  Scott  Collections. 


No.  56.  THE  SCOURGING  OF  CHRIST  (with  the  Pavement). 

Hind.  p.  346,  4. 

B.  XHI.  227,  I. 

(403  X 3 14)  > 

Fine  impression  in  brown  ink  on  brownish  paper. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  John  Tetlow  and  J.  S.  Morgan  Collections. 

165 


“The  drawing  by  Mantegna  on  which  this  print  is  based  must  almost  certainly  have  belonged  to 
the  period  of  the  Eremitani  frescoes.  This  hard  manner  of  cutting  the  line  with  some  use  of  cross- 
hatching  is  quite  distinct  from  the  method  used  by  Mantegna  in  his  undisputed  engravings,  and  no  theory 
of  development  can  sufficiently  explain  the  distinction.  There  is  indeed  little  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
engraving  goes  back  to  the  period  of  the  design.  No  impressions  seem  to  occur  which  show  the  broken 
quality  of  line  resulting  from  the  use  of  thin  inks  and  from  slight  and  unequal  (perhaps  hand)  pressure 
in  the  printing.  This  fact  may  lead  us  to  place  the  engraving  considerably  later  than  the  assumed  period 
of  the  original.”  (H.  p.  346.)  ' 

No.  57.  CHRIST  DESCENDING  INTO  HELL. 

Hind.  p.  347,  5. 

B.  XIII.  230,  5. 

(443  X 34sJ 

Fine  impression  in  brown  ink  on  brownish  paper.  Condition  good 
with  exception  of  some  weak  spots  and  slight  stains. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection. 


No.  58.  CHRIST  TAKEN  DOWN  FROM  THE  CROSS. 

Hind.  p.  348,  6. 

B.  XIII.  230,  4. 

Second  state,  in  which  the  branches  of  the  tree  have  been  finished 
and  the  clouds  appear  in  the  sky. 

(430  x34s) 

Good  impression,  but  somewhat  damaged. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection. 


No.  59.  THE  ADORATION  OF  THE  MAGI  (The  Virgin  in 

THE  Grotto). 

Hind.  p.  350,  8. 

B.  XIII.  233,9. 

(384  X 280) 

Good  impression  in  brown  ink.  Watermark;  Hind,  8c. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  W.  Esdaile,  R.  S.  Holford,  Francis 
Bullard  and  Brayton  Ives  Collections. 

This  plate  is  engraved  after  the  central  panel  of  the  well-known 
Uffizi  triptych. 

No.  6o.  HERCULES  AND  ANTAEUS. 

Hind.  p.  350,  9. 

B.  XHI.  237,  16. 

(336  X 240) 


166 


Good  early  impression  in  brown  ink  on  brownish  paper.  (Ask 
at  desk  for  another  impression,  which  is  a modern  one  in  reddish- 
brown  ink.) 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Baldinger  Collection. 

No.  6i.  HERCULES  AND  ANTAEUS. 


Hind.  p.  351,  10. 

B.  XIII.  202,  I (Pollaiuolo). 

(233  X 1 14) 

Early  impression  on  brown  paper,  but  badly  damaged  and  cut, 
and  poorly  inlaid  on  a piece  of  paper  on  which  lines  that  do  not  ap- 
pear in  an  impression  in  good  condition  have  been  put  in  with  pen 
and  ink.  [Compare  with  the  reproduction  PI.  XV  facing  p.  351  in 
Hind.] 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection;  British  Museum 
duplicate. 

“This  print,  hitherto  in  all  collections  and  catalogues  ascribed  to  Pollaiuolo,  is  in  reality  not 
Florentine,  but  evidently  of  the  school  of  Mantegna  and  probably  from  a drawing  by  the  master.  Two 
examples  of  Pollaiuolo’s  treatment  of  the  same  theme'  are  known,  the  panel  in  the  Uffizi  and  the  bronze 
of  the  Bargello.  There,  as  elsewhere  in  Pollaiuolo’s  work,  muscular  exertion  is  expressed  with  a far 
intenser  energy,  and  in  a manner  of  much  less  statuesque  stiffness,  than  in  this  print.  The  face  of 
Hercules  is  here  almost  in  repose:  Pollaiuolo  would  no  doubt  have  shown  him  with  his  teeth  clenched 
and  the  corners  of  the  mouth  drawn  down  in  a ferocious  grin.  . . .”  (H.  p.  351.) 

No.  62.  FOUR  WOMEN  DANCING. 

Hind.  p.  351,  II. 

B.  XIII.  305,  18  (Zoan  Andrea). 

(236  X 344) 

Very  fine  early  impression  in  brown  ink  on  brownish  paper.  Con- 
dition good  except  for  a number  of  tears  carefully  mended. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection;  formerly  in  the 
St.  John  Dent  Collection. 

“This  print  reproduces  in  reverse,  with  variations,  four  of  the  dancing  nymphs  from  the  picture  of 
Parnassus  (or  the  ‘Triumph  of  Venus’)  in  the  Louvre  (which  probably  dates  about  1497).  The  varia- 
tion in  the  position  of  the  figures  makes  it  probable  that  the  engraving  goes  back  to  a drawing  by  Man- 
tegna and  not  to  the  picture  itself.”  (H.  p.  352.) 

No.  63.  IGNORANCE  AND  MERCURY:  An  Allegory  of 
Virtue  and  Vice. 

On  two  plates,  making  one  composition. 

Hind.  p.  352,  12. 

B.  XHI.  303,  16  (Zoan  Andrea). 

167 


(a)  Upper  portion. 

(300  X 430) 

Fair  impression,  weak  in  one  spot.  The  marks  of  four  rivet- 
holes  are  visible  in  the  corners. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  F.  Rechberger  (1804),  J.  S.  Morgan  and  Brayton 
Ives  Collections. 

(b)  Lower  portion. 

Hind.  p.  353,  12. 

B.  XIII.  304,  17  (Zoan  Andrea). 

• * 

(294-300x433) 

Fair  impression,  showing  the  marks  of  rivet-holes  in  three  corners 
of  the  plate.  The  mark  in  the  lower  left  corner  is  falsified  with  ink. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  F.  Rechberger  (1802),  J.  S.  Morgan  and  Brayton 
Ives  Collections. 


168 


No.  45.  The  Virgin  and  Child,  by  Andrea  Mantegna. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


No.  46.  Bacchanalian  Group  with  Silenus,  by  Andrea  Mantegna. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


No.  47.  Bacchanalian  Group  with  Silenus.  (Copy  of  No.  46.) 
Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


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No.  49.  Bacchanalian  Group  with  a Wine-Press,  by  Andrea  Manteg: 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


No.  50.  Battle  of  Sea-Gods:  the  Left  Portion  of  a Frieze,  by  Andrea  Mantegna 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


No.  51.  Battle  of  Sea-Gods:  the  Right  Portion  of  a Frieze,  by  Andrea  Mantegna. 
Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


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No.  52.  The  Entombment  (horizontal  plate),  by  Andrea  Mantegna. 
Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


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No.  53.  The  Risen  Christ  between  SS.  Andrew  and  Longinus,  by  Andrea  Mantegna. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


No.  54.  The  Triumph  of  Caesar:  the  Elephants.  School  of  Mantegna. 
Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


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No.  51;.  The  Triumph  of  C^sar:  Soldiers  Carrying  Trophies.  School  of  Mantegna. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


No.  56.  The  Scourging  of  Christ  (with  the  Pavement).  School  of  Mantegna. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


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No.  58.  Christ  Taken  down  from  the  Cross.  School  of  Mantegna, 
Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


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No.  59.  The  Adoration  of  the  Magi.  School  of  A4antegna. 
Lent  by  tlie  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


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Nil.  6o.  Hercules  and  Antaeus.  School  of  MantecnA. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridse. 


No.  6i.  Hercules  and  Antaeus.  School  of  Mantegna. 
Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard^  Boston. 


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No.  62.  Four  Women  Dancing.  School  of  Mantegna. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


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GIOVANNI  ANTONIO  DA  BRESCIA 


No  well  authenticated  facts  are  known  about  this  master’s  life. 
He  appears  to  have  been  active  as  an  engraver  during  the  first  three 
decades  of  the  XVI  century.  Three  of  his  plates,  none  of  which  is 
included  in  this  exhibition,  bear  the  dates,  respectively,  1505,  1507 
and  1509.  This  exhibition  contains  five  engravings  by  the  master. 

Bibliography: 

Hind.  p.  360  ff. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  (181 1),  pp.  31 1-331. 

Passavant.  V.  (1864),  pp.  103-114. 

“There  are  two  perfectly  distinct  phases  in  the  work  of  Giovanni  Antonio.  In  his  earlier  period 
he  is  one  of  the  closest  imitators  of  the  style  of  Mantegna;  in  his  later  he  makes  a poor  attempt  at 
assimilating  the  manner  and  technique  of  Marcantonio. 

He  is  a second-rate  artist,  but  under  the  inspiration  of  Mantegna  and  in  his  simpler  system  of  line 
he  did  several  plates  which  are  by  no  means  lacking  in  skill.  It  is  quite  uncertain  whether  he  ever  came 
personally  under  Mantegna’s  influence  in  Mantua;  in  all  probability  he  was  merely  an  imitator  and 
copyist.  . . . 

The  earliest  work  of  Giovanni  Antonio  may  precede  by  some  years  the  first  of  his  copies  after  Diirer, 
but  it  is  hardly  probable  that  any  of  it  dates  much  before  1500.  There  is  little  evidence  to  fix  the  limits 
of  his  activity  in  Rome.  . . . 

There  is  insufficient  evidence  to  dogmatise  on  the  identity  of  our  engraver  with  the  medallist  Fra 
Antonio  da  Brescia,  who  is  known  to  have  worked  from  about  1487  to  1513.  The  medallist  shows  a 
realistic,  almost  a modern  touch  in  his  portraits,  and  seems  too  good  an  artist  to  be  the  second-rate 
imitator  seen  in  the  engravings.”  (H.  pp.  360-362.) 

No.  64.  THE  HOLY  FAMILY  WITH  THE  INFANT  ST. 
JOHN. 

Hind.  p.  365,  4. 

B.  XIII.  320,  s. 

First  state,  before  the  cross-hatching  in  the  background.  , 

(308  X 272) 

Very  fine  early  impression. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  J.  S.  Morgan  Collection. 

“Not  signed,  but  the  attribution  is  almost  certain.  The  print  seems  to  be  based  on  a design  by 
Mantegna  belonging  to  the  same  period  as  the  Virgin  and  Child  with  Mary  Magdalene  and  S.  Sebastian 
at  the  National  Gallery  (i.e.  about  1495-1500).”  (H.  p.  365.) 


209 


No.  65.  ST.  PETER. 

Hind.  p.  366,  7. 

B.  XIII.  321,  6. 

(199x124) 

Good  early  impression  on  brownish  paper.  A tear  mended  with 
care  and  lower  left  corner  replaced. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  British  Museum  duplicate. 

No.  66.  MAN  HOLDING  A FORKED  STAFF. 

Hind.  p.  369,  15. 

P.  V.  no,  50. 

(165  X 148) 

Fair  early  impression  in  grayish  ink.  Torn  and  mended  at  bottom. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Marshall  and  J.  S.  Morgan  Collections. 

“Not  signed,  but  very  near  to  G.  A.  da  Brescia  in  character  of  work.  The  design  is  probably 

based  on  some  antique  sculpture  or  fresco.”  (H.  p.  369.) 


No.  67.  WOMAN  WATERING  A PLANT  (after  Marcan- 

TONIO). 

Hind.  p.  369,  16. 

B.  XIII.  329,  21. 

(219x137) 

Delicate  early  impression. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum.,  Harvard  University;  formerly  in  the  J.  S.  Morgan  and 
Brayton  Ives  Collections. 

Signed  in  lower  right  corner. 

“The  figure  is  closely  copied  in  reverse  from  Marcantonio,  B.  XIV.  383  (D.  179).  . . . Marcan- 
tonio’s  engraving  dates  certainly  before  his  visit  to  Rome  (i.e.  before  1510),  so  that  the  present  engrav- 
ing, belonging  to  G.  A.  da  Brescia’s  later  period,  must  clearly  be  the  copy.”  (H.  p.  369.) 

No.  68.  THE  CUP  OF  JOSEPH  FOUND  IN  BENJAMIN’S 
SACK. 

Hind.  p.  370,  19. 

B.  V.  11,7- 
P.  V.  107,  27. 

(172  x 280) 


210 


Good  early  impression. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  St.  John  Dent  Collection;  British  Museum 
duplicate. 

“Not  signed,  but  quite  certainly  by  Giovanni  Antonio  da  Brescia.  Executed  after  some  design 
closely  related  to  the  Vatican  loggie,  . . . but  not  among  the  subjects  which  are  known  to  have  been 
carried  out  there.”  (H.  p.  371.) 


211 


No.  64.  The  Holy  Family  with  the  Infant  St.  John,  by  Giovanni  Antonio  da  Brescia. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


\ 


I 


No.  65.  St.  Peter,  by  Giovanni  Antonio  da  Brescia, 
tent  by  Mr.  Pau!  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


No.  66.  A4an  Holding  a Forked  Staff,  by  Giovanni  Antonio  da  Brescia. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


No.  67.  Woman  Watering  a Plant,  by  Giovanni  Antonio  da  Brescia  (after  Marcantonio) 
Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


V-  > V 


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No.  68.  The  Cup  of  Joseph  Found  in  Benjamin’s  Sack,  by  Giovanni  Antonio  da  Brescia. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


. 


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ZOAN  ANDREA 


Bibliography : 

Hind.  p.  382  ff. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  pp.  293-310. 

Passavant.  V.  (1864),  pp.  79-88. 

Kolloff,  in  Meyer’s  Aligemeines  Kiinstlerlexikon  L (1872),  pp.  698-706. 

It  is  not  known  when  or  where  Zoan  Andrea  was  bom  or  died, 
and  the  facts  concerning  his  career  are  extremely  vague.  From  some 
interesting  documents  and  letters,  which  throw  light  upon  certain 
aspects  of  Renaissance  life,  it  appears  that  for  a time  at  least  Zoan 
Andrea  lived  and  worked  in  Mantua  (c,  1475),  where  he  v^as  engaged 
in  pirating  Mantegna’s  drawings.  To  judge  from  the  internal  evi- 
dence of  his  later  work  it  seems  probable  that  at  some  time  he  worked 
at  Milan.  At  any  rate  his  later  work  was  strongly  influenced  by  the 
Milanese  school,  at  least  two  of  his  engravings  being  in  the  Leonar- 
desque  tradition. 

No.  69.  THREE  CUPIDS. 

Hind.  p.  385,  2. 

B.  XIII.  302,  13. 

(177  X 228) 

Good  impression,  but  damaged. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Bostonj  formerly  in  the  Brayton  Ives  Collection. 

No.  70.  JUDITH  WITH  THE  HEAD  OF  HOLOFERNES. 

Probably  a copy. 

Hind.  p.  386,  5*. 

B.  XIII.  29s,  I (copy). 

P.  V.  80,  I (copy)  and  107,  28  (G.'A.  da  Brescia). 

(301  X 249) 

Good  impression,  with  a few  careful  restorations.  Cut. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University;  formerly  in  the  Hawkins,  Richard 
Fisher,  Francis  Bullard  and  Brayton  Ives  Collections. 


223 


No.  71.  ST.  JEROME  IN  PENITENCE  (after  Durer). 

Hind.  p.  388,  10. 

B.  XIII.  299,  7. 

Copied  in  reverse  from  Diirer  B.  61,  the  chief  difference  being  that 
the  saint  holds  no  stone  in  his  hand.  Signed  near  the  middle  of  the 
lower  margin. 

(300  X 224) 

Fair  impression,  in  damaged  condition,  showing  plate-line  on 
three  sides  and  possibly  cut  within  the  plate-line  at  the  top.  Water- 
mark: Briquet  3066.  (?) 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  .'\rt  Museum,  Harvard  University;  formerly  in  the  Ginsburg  Collection. 


224 


No.  69.  Three  Cupids,  by  Zoan  Andrea. 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


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No.  70.  Judith  with  the  Head  of  Holofernes.  (Probably  a copy  of  Zoan  Andrea.) 
Lent  by  the  Fojig  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


- ii. 


■ -‘.'..K-' 


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''it  .<3 


-:4 


No.  71.  St.  Jerome  in  Penitence,  by  Zoan  Andrea  (after  Durer) 
Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


1 


THE  MASTER  OF  THE  SFORZA  BOOK  OF 

HOURS 

Hind’s  Catalogue  on  p.  392  ff.  contains  a resume  of  the  various 
arguments  advanced  concerning  the  personality  and  work  of  this 
master,  and  on  p.  395  gives  a bibliography  of  the  more  important 
literature  concerning  both.  He  apparently  belongs  to  the  Milanese 
school,  but  whether  he  can  be  definitely  identified  with  the  master- 
miniaturist  Antonio  da  Monza  or  with  Ambrogio  Preda  is  an  open 
question.  Attempts  have  also  been  made  to  identify  him  with  Zoan 
'Andrea. 

The  one  print  here  catalogued  under  this  name  can  be  considered 
as  throwing  very  little  light  upon  the  whole  vexed  question,  because, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  is  attributed  to  the  master  by  Dr.  Kristeller, 
in  the  eyes  of  Sir  Sidney  Colvin  and  Mr.  Hind  such  an  attribution 
has  little  to  recommend  it,  although  they  admit  its  Milanese  character. 

No.  72.  HEAD  OF  CHRIST  CROWNED  WITH  THORNS. 

Hind.  p.  396,  3. 

(180x140) 

Clear  modern  impression  from  reworked  plate. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  J.  S.  Morgan  Collection. 


231 


No.  72.  Head  of  Christ  Crowned  with  Thorns,  by  the  Master  of  the  Sforza  Book  of 

Hours. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


mmm 


NICOLETTO  ROSEX  DA  MODENA 


Bibliography: 

Hind.  p.  415  ff. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  pp.  252-292. 

Passavant.  V.  pp.  92-103. 

There  is  no  well  authenticated  information  available  about  the 
life  of  this  master.  In  one  instance  the  date  of  his  birth  is  set  as 
early  as  1454;  in  another  it  is  stated  that  he  was  born  in  1474.  The 
only  documentary  evidence  available  in  regard  to  the  approximate 
time  of  his  activity  is  that  afforded  by  three  of  his  prints,  dated, 
respectively,  1500,  1501  and  1512. 


“The  print  dated  1500  is  one  of  his  copies  from  Diirer,  which  form  an  important  turning  point  in 
his  career  and  seem  to  herald  the  later  manner  which  is  seen  in  its  full  development  in  the  5.  Anthony 
of  1512.  Many  of  his  engravings  were  certainly  done  before  he  came  under  the  influence  of  Diirer, 
and  the  earliest  of  these  probably  date  back  a decade  before  1500.  He  may  even  have  been  working 
as  far  back  as  1480,  but  the  style  of  his  early  prints  scarcely  justifies  the  assumption.”  (H.  p.  415.) 

“Nicoletto’s  development  as  an  engraver  is  analogous  to  that  of  Giov.  Ant.  da  Brescia,  in  that  his 
earliest  work  shows  the  influence  of  Mantegna  and  his  latest  that  of  Marcantonio  and  the  Roman  school, 
though  in  neither  case  does  he  follow  his  models  so  closely  as  did  the  Brescian  craftsman.  . . . In  his 
way  of  framing  his  figures  among  ‘classic’  ruins  set  in  the  foreground  of  a romantic  landscape,  Man- 
tegna may  have  been  of  real  influence  on  Nicoletto’s  style.  . . . It  is  a mere,  but  perhaps  not  an  un- 
reasonable, suggestion  that  he  may  have  received  his  training  under  Zoan  Andrea  at  Milan.  . . . 

Contemporaneously  with  the  use  of  the  Mantegnesque  system  of  engraving  in  parallel  straight 
strokes  we  And  Nicoletto  developing  the  practice  of  cross-hatching.  Most  of  the  prints  . . . show  him 
in  this  phase,  which  we  would  call  the  second  manner,  admitting  at  the  same  time  the  probability  that 
they  precede  certain  of  the  more  powerful  prints  in  the  parallel  system.  . . . In  the  second  phase 
he  frequently  relieves  his  figures  and  architecture  on  a ground  shaded  in  dark  cross-hatching,  after  the 
convention  of  a niello.  Whether  Nicoletto  actually  worked  in  niello  remains  uncertain.  In  any  case 
he  engraved  several  small  plates  with  dark  backgrounds  much  in  the  manner  of  a niellist.  . . . 

We  may  note  at  the  same  time  the  beginning  of  a northern  influence  represented  in  copies  after 
Schongauer,  e.g.  . . . the  central  group  of  the  Adoration  [No.  73]  from  Schongauer  B.  4.  . . . 

The  fanciful  landscape  setting  becomes  an  increasingly  important  feature  in  his  design,  and  the 
general  spirit  of  his  work  approximates  to  that  of  Benedetto  Montagna. 

In  his  treatment  of  landscape  Nicoletto  seems  to  have  been  chiefly  influenced,  after  Diirer,  by  the 
Italian  master," I.  B.  with  the  Bird,’  whom  Dr.  Kristeller  holds  to  belong  to  the  Bolognese  school,  though 
Zani  was  confldent  in  identifying  him  with  an  engraver  of  Modena  mentioned  by  Vedriani  (after  his 
notice  of  Nicoletto),  Giovanni  Battista  del  Porto.  But  whether  ‘Master  I.  B.  with  the  Bird’  was  Mo- 
denese or  Bolognese  matters  little.  Intercourse  between  schools  divided  by  the  short  distance  of  twenty 
miles  must  have  been  constant,  and  in  engraving,  which  from  the  transmissible  nature  of  its  products  is 
a far  more  cosmopolitan  art  than  painting,  the  craftsman  of  one  locality  would  easily  be  affected  by 
the  example  of  a neighbouring  school.  . . . On  the  whole  it  is  more  probable  that  Nicoletto  followed 
‘Master  I.  B.  with  the  Bird’  than  the  reverse,  although  there  are  indications  that  their  influence  was 
in  some  degree  mutual.  In  the  drawing  of  trees  both  seem  to  derive  their  style  ultimately  from 
Diirer.  . . . 


235 


While  speaking  of  outside  influences  we  would  refer  to  Nicoletto’s  relation  to  Marcantonio.  In  the 
Hercules  and  the  Bull  . . . we  meet  a similar  design  to  that  used  by  the  young  Marcantonio  (B.  292), 
but  it  is  more  likely  that  both  went  back  to  some  similar  original  than  that  either  copied  from  the 
other.  ...  In  his  large  arabesques  . . . Nicoletto  shows  a closer  connection  in  style  ¥/ith  the  Roman 
school,  but  the  only  definite  evidence  of  his  having  been  in  Rome  is  furnished  by  those  prints  which 
seem  to  belong  to  his  middle  period.  . . . It  is  possible  that  we  have  to  suppose  a visit  to  Rome  at  that 
period.  I cannot  imagine  that  he  passed  his  latest  years  there,  at  least  if  the  attractive  series  of  small 
compositions  generally  regarded  as  his  latest  works,  which  are  so  essentially  North  Italian  in  spirit,  are 
rightly  so  considered.  . . . 

The  signatures  of  Nicoletto  are  most  various.  . . . The  occurrence  of  reeds  in  his  prints  may  also 
be  noted  as  characteristic  of  the  master.”  (H.  pp.  416-419.) 


No.  73.  THE  ADORATION  OF  THE  SHEPHERDS. 

Hind.  p.  426.  20. 

B.  XIII.  255',  3. 

(249  X 184) 

Good  impression. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  British  Museum  duplicate. 

Northern  influence  is  clearly  apparent  in  this  print.  Note  the 
central  group,  with  the  three  shepherds,  which  is  copied  from  a 
print  by  Martin  Schongauer  (B.  4). 

No.  74.  ST.  BERNARDINO  OF  SIENA. 

Hind.  p.  435,  45. 

B.  XIII.  270,  26  (St.  Dominic). 

(14s  X 104) 

Fair  impression,  in  good  condition. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  H.  F.  Sewall  Collection. 


No.  75.  ST.  CATHERINE. 

Undescribed  by  Hind,  as  apparently  in  1910  there  was  neither 
an  original  nor  a reproduction  in  the  British  Museum  Collection. 

P.  V.  97,  84. 

The  flgure  of  St.  Catherine,  richly-robed,  stands  in  the  centre, 
slightly  to  the  right  of  the  plate,  in  front,  on  an  arcade  through  which 
in  the  background  is  seen  a landscape  with  river,  bridge  and  hills  in 
the  distance.  She  rests  her  right  hand  on  a sword  and  in  her  left 
she  holds  a palm-branch.  The  broken  wheel  lies  in  the  foreground 

236 


at  the  left.  Signed  at  the  base  of  the  elaborate  column  on  the  right 

NICOLETO 

DAMODENA. 

(145  X 104) 

Very  good  impression,  in  good  condition,  perhaps  slightly  trimmed 
at  top. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection. 


237 


No.  73.  The  Adoration  of  the  Shepherds,  by  Nicoletto  da  Modena, 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


I.  74.  St.  Bernardino  of  Siena,  by  Nicoletto  da  A'Iddena.  75-  St.  Catherine,  by  Nicoletto  da  Modena. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston,  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


4 


JACOPO  DE’ 


BARBARI 


Bibliography: 

Hind.  p.  443  if. 

Bartsch.  VII.  pp.  516-527. 

Passavant.  III.  pp.  134-143. 

Nagler,  G.  K.  Monogrammisten.  III.  No.  1842. 

Kolloff,  in  Meyer’s  Allgemeines  Kiinstlerlexikon  II.  (1878),  pp.  706—716. 
Berenson,  B.  Lorenzo  Lotto.  London  1901.  pp.  26-39. 

“Born  at  Venice  between  1440  and  1450:  between  1500-1508  worked  for  the  Emperor  and  va- 
rious other  princes  in  different  towns  of  Germany:  appointed  portrait  and  miniature  painter  to  the  Em- 
peror 8th  April  1500:  from  1503-1505  v/orked  in  the  service  of  Friedrich  the  Wise  of  Saxony  at  Witten- 
berg, Naumburg,  and  Lochau:  was  at  Nuremberg  in  1505,  and  probably  also  in  1504:  in  1507  painted 
the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Mecklenburg:  in  1508  was  at  Frankfurt-an-der-Oder  with  Joachim  I of 
Brandenburg;  some  time  after  1507  entered  the  service  of  Count  Philip  of  Burgundy,  and  was  engaged 
in  company  with  Mabuse  painting  in  the  castle  of  Zuytfaorch:  1510  was  in  the  service  of  the  Archduchess 
Margaret,  Regent  of  the  Netherlands,  as  varlet  de  chambre  et  feintre  attache  d la  princesse;  in  March, 
15 1 1,  ‘ considerant  sa  dehilisation  et  vieillesse’  the  Archduchess  granted  him  an  annual  pension  of  lOO 
livres;  in  the  inventory  of  the  Regent’s  pictures  (of  1515-16)  he  is  referred  to  as  dead. 

In  fixing  an  approximate  date  for  Barbari’s  birth,  the  documentary  evidence  we  have  is  the  ref- 
erence to  the  master  in  1511  as  ‘old  and  infirm.’  This  evidence  agrees  virell  enough  with  the  dates  of 
certain  paintings  attributed  to  him  by  Morelli,  e.g.  frescoes  on  two  monuments  by  the  Lombardi,  that 
of  Agostino  Onigo  in  S.  Niccolo,  Treviso  (about  1495-1500),  and  that  of  Melchiore  Trevisani  in  S. 
Maria  Gloriosa  de’  Frari,  Venice;  besides  various  panel-pictures,  e.g.  A Virgin  and  Child  with  Saints 
(Berlin  26a),  a Salvator  Mundi  (various  versions  in  the  Giustiniani,  Frizzoni,  and  Barbo-Cinti  collec- 
tions). But  the  received  ideas  of  the  master’s  date  and  age  have  been  somewhat  disturbed  by  a 
picture  acquired  a few  years  ago  for  the  Naples  Museum  (see  Bibliography,  Venturi  and  Ricci).  This 
is  a double  portrait;  the  central  figure- without  doubt  represents  Fra  Luca  Pacioli  (the  celebrated 
geometrician,  author  of  De  Divina  Proportione) ; the  other  stands  in  the  background  in  a manner  char- 
acteristic of  self-portraits;  it  is  signed  lACO.  BAR.  VIGENNIS.  P.  1495.  Venturi  interprets  the 
signature  in  the  most  obvious  way,  ‘Jacopo  de’  Barbari,  painted  in  his  twentieth  year.,  1495,’  and  the 
features  are  certainly  those  of  a young  man  about  that  age.  But  if  we  are  to  accept  1475  as  the  date 
of  Jacopo’s  birth,  not  only  does  the  document  of  15  ii  become  unintelligible,  but  no  sufficient  time  is 
left  for  the  production  of  the  work  generally  accepted  as  his,  though  none  of  this  can  be  positively  placed 
much  before  the  last  decade  of  the  century.  The  painting  itself,  which  is  q-aite  in  the  tradition  of 
Antoaello  da  Messina,  is  perhaps  better  than  any  other  attributed  to  Barbari,  whose  earlier  style  seems 
to  have  been  formed  on  the  Vivarini.  Rather  than  discredit  the  documentary  evidence  we  must  sup- 
pose either  that  the  signature  on  the  Naples  picture  is  a forgery  or  that  the  words  lACO  BAR  denote 
some  other  painter  and  not  our  Jacopo  de’  Barbari. 

Barbari’s  style  shown  in  his  engravings  scarcely  allows  us  to  date  any  of  them  much  before  1490. 
. . . But  even  the  most  careful  examination  leaves  us  quite  uncertain  as  to  their  sequence,  nor  do  they 
show  any  definite  change  of  style  marking  the  removal  of  the  master  from  Italy  to  the  North.  ...  If 
his  technical  method  is  to  be  brought  into  relation  with  that  of  Diirer,  it  will  be  found  that  the  corre- 
spondence is  closest  to  Diirer’s  quite  early  work  of  about  1495,  e.g.  the  Turkish  Family  (B.  85), 
the  Little  Fortune  (B.  78),  S.  Sebastian  (B.  56).  ... 

Barbari  never  becomes  an  engraver  in  the  most  accomplished  sense;  he  never  learns  to  lay  his  line 
with  the  decision  and  precision  of  method  by  which  the  great  masters  achieve  depth  of  tone  and  regu- 
larity of  effect.  His  work  always  retains  the  character  of  a somewhat  lax  kind  of  pen-drawing  transferred 
to  another  medium.  . . . With  the  graver  as  v/ith  the  pen,  he  works  with  a long,  sinuous,  somewhat 
fiaccid  line,  at  the  same  time  handling  his  tool  with  a certain  lightness  of  touch  which  yields  something 


243 


of  the  quality  of  dry-point,  a quality  enhanced  by  his  practice  of  not  scraping  away  his  burr  so  clearly 
as  most  engravers.  . . . 

Barbari  never  signed  any  engraving  with  his  name,  initials,  or  any  form  of  monogram;  only  with 
his  emblem  of  the  caduceus,  which  occurs  on  a great  majority  of  his  prints;  those  lacking  it  can  easily 
be  recognized  by  their  style  as  his  work.”  (H.  pp.  442-445,  447.) 


No.  76.  JUDITH. 

Hind.  p.  448,  I. 

B.  VII.  S17,  I. 

(184  X 1 12) 

Good  impression;  cut. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  H.  F.  Sewall  Collection. 


No.  77.  THE  ADORATION  OF  THE  MAGI. 

Hind.  p.  448,  2. 

B.  VII.  517,2. 

(223  X 165) 

Faint  impression;  cut. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  H.  F.  Sewall  Collection. 


No.  78.  THE  HOLY  FAMILY  WITH  ST.  ELIZABETH. 

Hind.  p.  449,  5. 

B.  VII.  518,4. 

(129  X 164) 

Good  impression  with  wide  margin.  Watermark:  Briquet 

12864.  (^) 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University;  formerly  in  the  J.  Reiss  and  J.  S. 
Morgan  Collections. 

“The  way  of  setting  the  scene,  with  an  expanse  of  lake  or  sea  in  the  background,  corresponds  with 
some  of  Diirer’s  early  prints,  e.g.  the  Offer  of  Love  of  about  1494-95  (B.  93).  The  drawing  of  the  clouds 
is  also  much  like  that  seen  in  Diirer’s  Rape  of  Amymone  of  about  1500  (B.  71).”  (H.  p.  449.) 

No.  79.  THE  HOLY  FAMILY  WITH  ST.  PAUL. 

Hind.  p.  449,  6. 

B.  VII.  518,  5. 

(150  X 190) 

Faint  impression;  condition  not  good. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  F.  Rochberger  and  H.  F.  Sewall 
Collections. 


244 


No.  8o.  ST.  CATHERINE. 


Hind.  p.  450,  10. 

B.  VII.  520,  8. 

(193  X 123) 

Fine  impression;  condition  satisfactory  except  for  several  tears 
carefully  mended. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  J.  S.  Morgan  and  Brayton  Ives  Collections. 


No.  81.  APOLLO  AND  DIANA. 

Hind.  p.  41:1,  14. 

B.  VII.  523,  16. 

(138x98) 

Fine  impression. 

Lent  by  Messrs.  Colnaghi  and  Obach,  London;  formerly  in  the  Archinto,  Holloway  and  Alfred 
Morrison  Collections. 

“The  connexion  of  this  print  with  Dtirer’s  Apollo  and  Diana  (B.  68,  date  about  1305)  has  long  been 
acknowledged,  and  Thausing’s  theory  that  Barbari’s  engraving  gave  Diirer  the  general  suggestion  seems 
still  the  most  reasonable. 

The  chief  link  between  the  two  prints  is  the  celebrated  drawing  of  the  same  subject  by  Diirer  in 
the  British  Museum  (Lippmann  No.  233).  Here  Diana  is  seen  from  the  back  to  the  r.  of  Apollo,  as  in 
Barbari’s  engraving;  except  for  this  and  the  general  conception  of  the  subject,  Diirer’s  design  shows  no 
direct  dependence  on  Barbari;  and  in  the  figure  of  Apollo  he  clearly  follows  the  type  of  the  Belvedere 
Apollo,  of  which  he  probably  possessed  some  drawing.  It  is  from  the  same  source  that  he  worked  out 
the  position  of  Adam  in  the  engraving  of  1304.  In  the  engraving  of  Apollo  and  Diana,  Diirer  brought 
his  Apollo  nearer  to  that  of  Barbari’s  engraving,  more  particularly  in  the  lower  limbs.  He  also  recurs 
to  Barbari’s  motive  in  the  introduction  of  the  bow,  without  following  him  in  awkwardly  raising  the 
bow  hand  to  the  level  of  the  ear;  at  the  same  time  he  completely  alters  the  position  of  Diana,  who  now 
sits  facing  to  the  front. 

Dr.  Ludwig  Justi,  it  should  be  said,  takes  an  entirely  different  view  of  the  relations  of  these  works. 
He  places  the  British  Museum  drawing  of  the  Apollo  in  a series  of  drawings  suggested  to  Diirer  by  the 
Belvedere  Apollo,  all  preliminary  to  the  Adam  and  Eve  designs  (regarding  that  in  Sir  Edward  Poynter’s 
collection,  Lippmann  179,  as  the  earliest).  He  then  assumes  the  existence  of  further  drawings  by 
Diirer,  now  lost,  for  the  Apollo  and  Diana  subject,  and  argues  that  Barbari  worked  on  the  basis  of  one 
of  these,  the  same  from  which  Diirer  himself  developed  the  design  for  his  own  engraving.”  (H.  p.  432.) 


No.  82.  SACRIFICE  TO  PRIAPUS  (The  Smaller  Plate). 

Hind.  p.  455,  24.  * 

B.  VII.  525,  21. 

(98  X 113) 

Fair  impression,  lightly  printed. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection. 


245 


No.  83.  SACRIFICE  TO  PRIAPUS  (The  Larger  Plate). 

Hind.  p.  4SS,  25. 

B.  VII.  525,  19. 

(206  X 167) 

Fine  -early  impression,  but  somewhat  cut  at  top  and  bottom. 

Lest  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection;  formerly  in  the  Alfred 
Morrison  Collection. 

“Mr.  Berenson  aptly  compares  the  figure  on  the  I.  with  that  of  a drawing  in  the  Louvre  after  an 
unknown  original  (some  statue  of  the  Venus  Genetrix  type),  which  he  attributes  to  Jacopo  de’  Barbari. 
A reproduction  of  the  drawing  (His  de  ia  Salle,  attributed  to  Leonardo  da  Vinci)  is  given  with  a note  by 
Salomon  Reinach  in  the  Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts,  3®  per.  XVI.  pp.  326  etc.”  (H.  p.  456.) 

No.  84.  VICTORY  RECLINING  AMID  TROPHIES. 

Hind.  p.  456,  27. 

B.  VII.  526,  23. 

(140  X 191) 

Fair  impression.  The  figure  of  Victory  is  touched  with  a wash 
here  and  there. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  British  Museum  duplicate. 

“Dr.  Haendcke  discovers  in  this  figure  the  original  of  the  Amymone  in  Diirer’s  engraving  (B.  71). 
It  seems  rash  to  see  more  than  a coincidence  of  posture  between  the  two.”  (H.  p.  4sh) 

No.  85.  SLEEPING  WOMAN  WITH  A SNAKE. 

Hind.  p.  457,  28. 

P.  III.  140,  28  (Cleopatre  Mourante). 

(179  X 1 16) 

Weak  but  early  impression,  showing  platedine.  Watermark: 
Briquet  3319. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Brentano  Collection.  British  Museum  duplicate. 

“For  its  general  scheme  of  a nude  figure  seated  in  front  of  a rocky  eminence,  this  design  may  be 
compared  with  Diirer’s  early  Penance  of  S.  Chrysostom  (B.  63),  though  no  definite  relation  between 
them  can  be  asserted.”  (H.  p.  457.) 

No.  8s  bis.  MARS  AND  VENUS. 

Hind.  p.  451,  12. 

B-  VII.  525,  20. 

(291  X 179) 

Very  fine  early  impression. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Albert  SchoOe,  New  York;  formerly  in  the  G.  Hibbert,  John  Barnard  and 
Brayton  Ives  Collections.  British  Museum  duplicate. 

246 


No.  76.  Judith,  by  Jacopo  de’  Barbari. 
Lent  by  the  Museum  o£  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


No.  77.  The  Adoration  of  the  Magi,  by  Jacopo  de’  Barbari. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


No.  78.  The  Holy  Family  with  St.  Elizabeth,  by  Jacopo  de’  Barbari. 
Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


No.  79.  The  Holy  Family  with  St.  Paul^  by  Jacopo  de’  Barbari. 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


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No.  8i.  Apollo  and  Diana,  by  Jacopo  de’  Barbari 
Lent  by  Messrs.  Colnaghi  & Obach,  London. 


No.  83.  Sacrifice  to  Priapus  (the  larger  plate) j by  Jacopo  de’  Barbari. 
Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


I.  84-  Victory  Reclining  among  Trophies,  by  Jacopo  de’  Barba: 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


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No.  85.  Sleeping  Woman  with  a Snake,  by  Jacopo  de’  Barbari, 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


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Lent  by  Mr.  Albert  Scholle,  New  York. 


GIROLAMO  MOCETTO 


Bibliography: 

Hind.  p.  458  ff. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  pp.  215-221. 

Passavant.  V.  pp.  134-139. 

Crowe  and  Cavalcaselle.  A History  of  Painting  in  North  Italy.  1871. 

I.  pp.  505-506,  and  pp.  43-44,  note. 

Venturi,  L.  Le  origini  della  Pittura  Veneziana.  Venice  1907.  pp.  253-254. 

“ Born  in  Murano  before  1458:  married  1493:  living  in  Venice  in  a house  belonging  to  the  Morosini 
family  1514:  made  his  will  August  21,  1531. 

There  is  documentary  evidence  of  members  of  the  family  of  Mocetto  being  settled  in  Murano  from 
1389,  and  Girolamo’s  great-grandfather  Antonio  Mocetto  is  recorded  as  a wealthy  glass  manufacturer. 
Lanzi’s  supposition  that  Girolamo  Mocetto  belonged  to  Verona  thus  falls  to  the  ground.  . . . There 
is  no  evidence  that  Girolamo  spent  more  time  in  Verona  than  was  required  for  the  painting  executed  by 
him  for  the  chapel  of  S.  Biagio  in  the  church  of  SS.  Nazaro  e Celso.  . . . Morelli  may  have  been  right 
in  regarding  Mocetto  as  a pupil  of  Alvise  Vivarini.  . . . His  work  shows  also  the  influence  of  Giovanni 
Bellini,  but  his  general  sentiment  and  style,  with  his  predilection  for  hard  outline  and  angular  folds, 
place  him  nearer  to  Cima  and  the  school  of  Vicenza.  . . . According  to  Vasari  he  acted  some  time  in 
the  capacity  of  assistant  to  Giovanni  Bellini.  ...  It  seems  most  likely  that  Mocetto’s  immediate  re- 
lation with  Bellini  followed  rather  than  preceded  1500.  Two  of  his  plates  (the  Judith  and  the  Calumny 
of  Apelles)  are  derived  from  drawings  by  Mantegna,  but  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  Mocetto  ever 
came  into  personal  touch  with  that  master. 

I find  no  evidence  to  show  that  Mocetto  ever  engraved  on  wood  or  designed  for  the  wood-cutter. 
His  activity  as  a painter  of  glass  windows  is  attested  by  his  signature  on  a window  in  the  transept  of 
the  church  of  SS.  Giovanni  e Paolo,  Venice.”  (H.  pp.  458,  459.) 

No.  86.  JUDITH  (after  Mantegna). 

Hind.  p.  461,  4. 

B.  XIII.  216,  I. 

Second  state:  background  added.  To  the  left  a tall  tree,  to  the 
right  a town. 

A.  (296x201) 

Fine  impression.  The  print  has  been  much  cut.  A tear  across 
the  centre  has  been  mended  so  as  to  be  almost  imperceptible. 

B.  (3 II  X 208) 

Fine  impression  on  dark  brown  paper.  Condition  good  and  less 
cut  than  A. 

A.  Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection;  formerly  in  the 

J.  Reiss  Collection. 

B.  Lent  by  Mr.  Albert  Scholle,  New  York;  formerly  in  the  Brayton  Ives  Collection.  Brit- 

ish Museum  duplicate. 


269 


“The  engraving  is  either  taken  from  some  lost  drawing  by  Mantegna,  or  adapted  by  Mocetto  from 
one  of  the  numerous  renderings  of  the  subject  by  Mantegna  and  his  school  (e.g.  drawings  in  the  Uffizi 
and  Chatsworth;  pictures  in  the  Dublin  Museum  and  the  collection  of  the  late  Mr.  John  Edward 
Taylor.  . . .)  ” (H.  p.  462.) 

No.  87.  THE  CALUMNY  OF  APELLES. 

Hind.  p.  464,  9. 

B.  Xril.  113,  10  (Anon.). 

First  State. 

(323  X434) 

Fine  early  impression,  showing  plate-line  along  lower  margin. 
The  print  has  been  cut  within  the  plate-line  on  the  other  three  sides. 
In  good  condition  with  exception  of  a crease  through  the  centre  and 
four  tears  along  the  edges  which  have  been  repaired. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University;  formerly  in  the  R.  S.  Holford, 
J.  S.  Morgan  and  Braj'ton  Ives  Collections. 

“Engraved  after  a drawing  by  Mantegna  (or  a very  close  follower)  in  the  British  Museum  (i860. 
6.  16.  85).  Both  composition  and  inscriptions  correspond  (except  for  the  d{e)ceptione  and  di  apelle 
rendered  dapele  by  Mocetto).  The  drawing  is  in  the  same  direction  as  the  engraving,  but  the, finer 
character  of  the  faces  and  the  subtler  rendering  of  form  and  fold  show  differences  which  preclude  the 
possibility  of  its  being  a copy  of  the  print.  Moreover  the  very  misreading  of  deceptione  almost  definitely 
proves  that  this  drawing  with  its  illegible  inscription  was  the  source  used. 

Mocetto  has  used  as  his  background  the  Piazza  of  S.  Giovanni  e Paolo  at  Venice,  with  Verrocchio’s 
equestrian  statue  of  Bartolomeo  Colleoni  (which  was  not  uncovered  until  1496,  eight  years  after  Ver- 
rocchio’s death.’’  (H.  p.  465.) 

“The  subject,  which  frequently  recurs  in  works  of  the  Renaissance  (the  most  famous  example 
being  the  picture  by  Botticelli  at  the  Uffizi),  is  taken  from  Lucian’s  description  of  a lost  picture  by 
Apelles.  According  to  the  story,  Apelles  was  falsely  accused  by  a rival  painter  Antiphilus  of  conspir- 
acy against  King  Ptolemy  the  son  of  Lagos.  The  king  gave  ear  to  the  accusation,  but  one  of  the  real 
conspirators  having  confessed  he  repented  his  credulity  and  gave  Apelles  an  indemnity  of  lOO  talents 
and  the  person  of  his  accuser  for  a slave.  The  text  of  Lucian,  which  was  known  in  Italy  in  several  trans- 
lations during  the  fifteenth  century,  tallies  almost  exactly  with  Mantegna’s  version.  One  difference, 
which  has  perhaps  a merely  philological  basis,  may  be  noted;  viz.  that  Envy,  who  according  to  the 
Greek  text  is  an  ill-favoured  man  {^dovos:)  and  is  so  depicted  by  Botticelli,  is  represented  by  Mantegna 
both  here  and  in  the  engraving  of  the  Battle  of  the  Sea-Gods  as  an  old  woman  {Invidia).  The  gender  of 
the  Latin  word  was  no  doubt  the  cause  of  this  deviation.  For  a learned  disquisition  on  the  whole  subject 
see  R.  Forster,  Die  J'erldumdung  des  Apelles  in  der  Renaissance  Pr.  Jarhbuch,  VIII.  p.  29. 

The  design  on  a Limoges  plaque  in  the  British  Museum  (from  the  Debruge,  Rattier  and  Hamilton 
collections,  purchased  1882)  is  adapted  from  the  engraving.”  (H.  p.  466.) 


TWO  PARTS  OF  A FRIEZE,  FORMING  A TRIUMPH 

OF  NEPTUNE. 

No.  88.  FRIEZE  WITH  TRITONS  AND  NYMPHS. 

Hind.  p.  468,  13. 

B.  XIII.  loi,  7 (Anon.). 

P.  V.  138,  13. 

270 


Second  state,  with  the  scales  on  the  breasts  of  the  sea-monsters. 
Reworked  and  cross-hatching  added  in  several  places. 

(127  X 320) 

Good  impression. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Ginsburg  Collection. 


No.  89.  FRIEZE  WITH  NEPTUNE  AND  TRITONS. 

Hind.  p.  469,  14. 

B.  XIII.  102,  8 (Anon.). 

P.  V.  138,  14. 

Second  state,  reworked  and  cross-hatching  added  in  several 
places. 

(116x311) 

A very  badly  damaged  impression. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Ginsburg  Collection. 


271 


No,  86a.  Judith,  by  Girolamo  Mocetto  (after  Mantegna) 
Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bulinrd,  Boston. 


No.  86b.  Judith,  by  Girolamo  Mocetto  (after  Mantegna). 
Lent  by  Mr.  Albert  Scholle,  New  York. 


No.  87.  The  Calumny  of  Apelles,  by  Girolamo  KIocetto. 
Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


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No.  89.  Part  of  a Frieze  forming  a Triumph  of  Neptune,  by  Girolamo  Mocetto. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs.  Cambiidge. 


fV 


BENEDETTO  MONTAGNA 


Bibliography: 

Hind.  p.  471  ff. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  pp.  332-350  (33  Nos.). 

Passavant.  V.  pp.  153-160  (57  Nos.). 

Vasari,  ed.  Milanesi.  III.  (1878),  p.  649,  Note  3,  and  p.  674. 

Crowe  and  Cavalcaselle.  Painting  in  North  Italy.  I.  (1871),  pp.  423-435. 
Borenius,  Tancred.  The  Painters  of  Vicenza.  London  1909  (contains  a 
complete  list  of  Montagna’s  engravings). 


“Worked  in  Vicenza  from  about  1500  till  after  1540.  Son  of  Bartolommeo  Montagna,  the  lead- 
ing painter  of  the  school  of  Vicenza.  His  name  is  said  to  have  been  recorded  in  a document  of  May 
22,  1490,  as  a master  painter  in  his  guild  {magister  pictor).  From  this  date,  taken  together  with  that  of 
his  father’s  earliest  activity  (about  1470),  it  has  generally  been  inferred  that  he  was  born  about  twenty 
years  earlier.  None  of  his  few  paintings  however  can  be  dated  before  1522,  and  most  belong  to  the 
years  following  his  father’s  death  (i.e.  after  1523).  If  he  had  been  working  any  considerable  time  before 
that  date,  it  had  probably  been  in  engraving,  and  as  his  father’s  assistant  in  painting.  The  course  of 
his  artistic  development  can  be  best  traced  in  his  engravings,  which  probably  date  from  about  1500, 
if  not  earlier,  to  near  the  close  of  his  career. 

Benedetto’s  earliest  engravings  are  almost  certainly  those  executed  in  the  large  open  manner  [of 
which  there  are  no  examples  in  this  exhibition].  . . . There  is  the  same  tendency  to  angularity,  both  in 
the  outlines  and  inner  contours  of  drapery,  that  characterises  Bartolommeo’s  work.  In  style  these 
prints  depend  immediately  on  Bartolommeo  for  their  inspiration  if  not  for  their  design.  Others  which 
might  be  as  late  as  the  second  decade  of  the  sixteenth  century  are  comparable  to  original  paintings  by 
Bartolommeo  . . . though  in  the  later  period  Benedetto  modifies  his  style  more  after  the  manner  of  the 
Venetians.  Mantegna  seems  to  have  provided  him  with  no  more  than  a general  suggestion  and  tradition 
of  style.  . . . 

With  the  Agony  in  the  Garden  the  German  influence  may  be  said  to  begin,  the  background  showing 
suggestions  from  Durer,  though  the  scheme  of  composition  is  still  that  of  Diirer’s  predecessors  rather 
than  of  Diirer  himself.  . . . In  several  of  the  prints  . . . northern  motives  are  adapted  for  the  landscape 
setting;  but  what  Benedetto,  like  Nicoletto  da  Modena,  chiefly  learnt  from  Diirer  was  a finer  system  of 
cross-hatching.  Like  Nicoletto  again,  Benedetto  Montagna  showed  in  his  later  work  a preference  for 
finished  compositions  of  small  compass,  which  would  have  been  well  adapted  to  book  illustration.  A 
series  of  this  kind  illustrates  incidents  in  Ovid’s  Metamorphoses,  but  there  is  no  evidence  for,  and  every 
probability  against,  their  having  ever  been  used  in  books.  Several  of  the  subjects  are  similarly  treated 
in  the  woodcuts  to  the  1497  Venice  edition  of  Ovid  in  Italian.  When  engravings  and  woodcuts  thus 
repeat  each  other,  the  woodcutter  is  generally  the  copyist,  but  in  this  case  the  reverse  must  almost  cer- 
tainly have  been  the  case,  as  these  plates  belong  to  Montagna’s  later  period,  and  could  not  well  have  pre- 
ceded 1505.  . . . 

Numerous  woodcuts  have  been  attributed  to  Montagna  as  designer  (see  Nagler’s  Kunstlerlexikon, 
etc.),  but  none  with  any  real  show  of  reason.  There  is  of  course  kindred  feeling  between  his  later  classical 
subjects  and  much  of  the  Venetian  illustration  of  the  early  sixteenth  century,  and  several  of  these  cuts 
arc'signed  bMo,  but  the  connexion  is  not  enough  to  support  the  identification.  The  only  work  of  the 
kind  definitely  after  Benedetto  is  a large  Virgin  enthroned  (P.  58)  in  Paris,  which  was  cut  by  Jacob  of 
Strassburg.”  (H.  471-473.) 


No.  90.  THE  VIRGIN  AND  CHILD. 

Hind.  p.  477,  10. 

B.  XIII.  337,  7. 

P.  V.  iss,  7. 

(204  X 160) 

Late  impression  with  the  signature  lOAN.BX  on  the  left.  There 
are  still  later  impressions  after  the  signature  has  been  removed. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection;  formerly  in  the 
Firmin-Didot  Collection. 


No.  91.  WOMAN  AND  SATYR  WITH  TWO  CUPIDS. 

Hind.  p.  479,  15. 

B.  XIII.  343,  21. 

(165  X I 18) 

Fine  early  impression. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Coppenrath  and  Baron  von  Lanna  Collections. 

\ 

No.  92.  MAN  WITH  AN  ARROW  (Apollo  ?). 

Hind.  p.  481,  21. 

B.  XIII.  350,  33. 

P.  V.  155,  33  (misprinted  38). 

Second  state.  A hill  has  been  added  in  the  background  low  down 
on  the  left. 

(209  X 144) 

Fine  but  rather  dry  impression.  W atermark:  Briquet  4854. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University;  formerly  in  the  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 
John  Tetlow,  J.  S.  Morgan  and  Brayton  Ives  Collections. 

“The  use  of  dots  for  the  lighter  shadows,  suggested  no  doubt  by  the  example  of  Giulio  Campagnola, 
renders  the  print  an  exception  in  Montagna’s  work.”  (H.  p.  482.) 

No.  93.  HOLY  FAMILY  WITH  A SHEPHERD  AND  TWO 
ANGELS. 

Hind.  p.  483,  27. 

B.  XIII.  334,  3. 

(167  X I 10) 

Good  early  impression,  but  rubbed  in  places  and  weakly  printed 
on  the  right  side. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs. 


282 


No.  94.  SATYR  FAMILY. 

Hind.  p.  483,  29. 

B.  VIII.  342,  17. 

(156  X 104) 

Hard,  dry,  and  late  impression. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Ginsburg  Collection. 


283 


I 


I 


No.  90.  The  Virgin  and  Child,  by  Benedetto  Montagna. 
Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


• 


No.  91.  Woman  and  Satyr  with  Two  Cupids,  by  Benedetto  Montagna. 


Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


No.  93.  Holy  Family  with  a Shepherd  and  Two  Angels,  ^^tyr  Family,  by  Benedetto  AIontagna. 

BY  Benedetto  Montagna.  Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


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GIULIO  CAMPAGNOLA 


Bibliography: 

Hind.  p.  489  ff. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  (1811),  pp.  368-376  (8  Nos.). 

Passavant.  V.  (1864),  pp.  162-167  (^7  Nos.). 

Kristeller,  P.  Giulio  Campagnola,  Kupferstiche  und  Zeichnungen.  Graph- 
ische  Gesellschaft,  Berlin  1907. 

“Son  of  the  writer  Girolamo  Campagnola:  b.  Padua  about  1482:  attached  to  the  court  of  Ercole  I 
at  Ferrara  in  1498:  in  1507  at  Venice:  working  until  after  1514,  died  probably  soon  after  that  date. 

According  to  contemporary  accounts  Giulio  Campagnola  was  a youth  of  marvellously  precocious 
and  varied  gifts  and  promise.  To  his  musical  and  literary  accomplishments  he  added  those  of  painter, 
miniaturist,  engraver  and  sculptor,  a distraction  of  energy  which  in  itself  is  enough  to  explain  the  lack 
of  identified  work.  Marcantanio  Michiel  (Morelli’s  Anonimo)  is  the  only  author  to  refer  to  any  definite 
works  beside  the  engravings.  . . . His  engravings  of  . . . the  Young  Shepherd  (No.  98),  and  the  Nude 
Woman  Reclining  (No.  102),  reflect  all  the  essential  qualities  of  Giorgione’s  style;  his  landscape  is 
throughout  pure  Giorgione,  and  his  peculiar  mode  of  engraving  may  have  been  an  attempt  to  imitate 
the  rich  softness  of  that  master’s  painting.  But  allowing  so  much,  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  to  as- 
sume that  Giulio’s  engravings  are  mere  copies  or  adaptations  from  Giorgione’s  designs.  . . . 

The  only  dated  print  by  the  master  is  The  Astrologer,  which  belongs  to  1509,  and  shows  him  al- 
ready ripe  both  as  artist  and  craftsman.  . . . His  two  authenticated  copies  after  Diirer  are  the  Penance 
of  S.  Chrysostom,  and  the  landscape  in  the  Ganymede  (No.  97):  the  original  of  the  former  dates  about 
1496-97,  that  of  the  latter  about  1500.  Some  of  Giulio’s  existing  prints  in  all  likelihood  go  back  to  about 
1500  or  a little  earlier. 

In  its  technical  aspect  Giulio  Campagnola’s  engraving  is  of  particular  interest.  Bartsch  regarded 
him  as  the  earliest  engraver  in  the  dot  and  punch  method  {maniere  pointille,  gravure  au  mail  let) , and 
others  have  described  his-  work  as  an  anticipation  of  stipple.  Neither  view  is  accurate,  and  careful 
definition  is  demanded.  Technically  Giulio’s  prints  fall  into  three  classes.  In  the  first  place  there  are 
the  prints  in  pure  line,  e.g.  the  Old  Shepherd  (No.  loi)  and  S.  Jerome  and  the  copies  after  Durer.  More 
characteristic  are  the  plates  in  which  a preliminary  light  engraving  in  line  is  supplemented  by  a system 
of  short  flicks  produced  by  the  graver  point.  These  flicks,  which  are  sometimes  so  delicate  that  they 
almost  resemble  true  dots,  are  used  both  by  themselves  and  within  the  interstices  of  the  lines.  The 
Woman  of  Samaria  (No.  95),  the  Young  Shepherd  (No.  98)  and  the  Astrologer  (No.  99)  show  the  clearest 
mixture  of  line  and  flick;  in  other  pieces,  such  as  the  S.  John  (No.  96)  and  the  Child  with  three  Cats,  the 
line  is  of  very  slight  importance,  merely  giving  the  chief  contours  and  some  secondary  detail:  no  line 
work  appears  at  all  in  a third  class  consisting  of  two  plates  only,  viz.:  the  Naked  Woman  reclining 
(No.  102)  and  the  Stag. 

The  first  difficulty  is  to  distinguish  between  flick-work  with  the  graver  and  dotting  with  a point. 
In  most  cases  the  flicks,  though  very  short,  are  of  the  elongated  diamond  shape,  which  point  unques- 
tionably to  the  use  of  the  graver.  In  two  instances  the  indentations  are  so  delicate  and  so  difficult  to 
differentiate  from  dots  even  with  a strong  glass  (i.e.  in  the  Child  with  three  Cats  and  the  Naked  Woman 
reclining  (No.  102),  that  it  is  impossible  to  be  certain  of  the  tool  employed.  It  might  have  been  the 
graver,  but  the  dry-point  or  a hand-punch  might  have  yielded  similar  results.  Probably  the  Child  with 
three  Cats  is  entirely  delicate  graver  work,  but  the  Naked  Woman  and  the  Stag  need  further  explanation. 
In  both  these  cases  the  thick  outline  seems  to  have  been  obtained  by  the  hand-punch,  a succession  of 
dots  combining  to  make  an  almost  continuous  line.  This  must  have  been  an  old  convention  in  pure 
goldsmith’s  work,  though  it  scarcely  appears  in  prints  until  nearly  a century  later  (e.g.  in  the  work  of 
German  craftsmen  like  Flindt  and  Aspruck).  But  even  if  the  outline  may  show  the  use  of  the  punch, 
we  must  not  assume  as  much  for  the  modelling.  In  the  Stag  the  instrument  is  certainly  the  graver. 
The  Naked  Woman  presents  greater  difficulties.  There  is  an  undertone  and  a grain  in  the  modelling 
which  could  hardly  have  been  obtained  either  by  punch  or  graver,  and  one  is  led  almost  to  suspect  the 


293 


possibility  of  etching.  Such  an  effect  might  be  got  by  first  flicking  or  dotting  with  the  graver  point, 
then  producing  a grain  by  means  of  some  instrument  with  a rough  surface  (like  the  mace-head  used  in 
chalk  engraving,  or  rat-tail  file  of  the  early  mezzotinters).  The  grain  might  even  have  been  obtained  in 
part  by  brushing  acid  on  the  surface.  An  essentia!  factor  in  the  stipple  process  properly  so  called  is  the 
preliminary  etching  through  a dotted  ground  before  the  use  of  the  curved  graver  for  completing  the  plate. 
In  respect  of  flick-work  Giulio’s  method  is  merely  a conventional  practice  in  line-engraving  (which  was 
not  fully  developed  until  over  a century  after  his  period)  carried  to  an  extreme  point,  and  neither  here 
nor  in  the  possible  use  of  the  hand-punch  can  his  work  be  said  to  have  any  more  vital  connexion  with 
stipple  proper  than  the  common  aim  of  producing  delicate  gradations  of  tone.”  (H.  pp.  489-492.) 


No.  95.  CHRIST  AND  THE  WOMAN  OF  SAMARIA. 

Flind.  p.  493,  I. 

B.  XIII.  370,  2. 

Second  state,  showing  the  marks  to  the  right  of  the  tower  caused 
by  an  accident  to  the  plate. 

(132  X 186) 

Very  fine  early  impression  on  brownish  paper. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  Count  Enzeaberg,  Mary  Jane 
Morgan,  Griggs  and  Brayton  Ives  Collections. 

No.  96.  ST.  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST. 

Hind.  p.  494,  2. 

B.  XIII.  371,3- 

(342  X 239) 

Very  brilliant  impression  in  almost  faultless  condition  in  spite  of 
some  stains  in  the  paper.  The  publisher’s  inscription  Appresso 
Nicolo  Nelli  in  V enetia  appears  in  lower  right  corner. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  J.  S.  Morgan  and  Braytoji  Ives  Collections. 

“No  impressions  before  the  address  of  Nicolo  Nelli  have  been  authenticated,  so  that  the  existence 
of  an  earlier  state  must  be  left  an  open  question.  Nelli  was  an  engraver  and  print-publisher  in  Venice 
whose  work  dates  for  the  most  part  between  1564-72,  and  impressions  with  his  address  can  hardly  have 
been  printed  much  before  the  earlier  of  these  dates.  It  is  possible  that  the  plate  may  have  remained 
unpublished  until  this  period,  but  scarcely  probable  that  Giulio  himself  pulled  no  proof  impressions. 
In  certain  (apparently  the  later)  impressions  of  the  plate  with  Nelli’s  address  appresso  occurs  in  place  of 
Appresso  (e.g.  Dresden). 

The  figure  closely  corresponds  in  reverse  with  an  engraving  by  Mocetto,  most  variation  being  shown 
in  the  character  of  the  head  and  hair.  It  is  more  probable  that  both  prints  go  back  to  some  original 
drawing  by  Mantegna  than  that  either  should  be  copied  from  the  other.  Two  drawings  exist  which 
have  been  regarded  as  original  studies:  first,  one  attributed  to  Mantegna  in  the  Ambrosiana,  which 
reproduces  the  print  in  the  same  direction,  and  is  certainly  a copy  from  it;  second,  one  in  the  Louvre, 
formerly  in  the  Galichon  collection,  which  renders  the  subject  freely  in  reverse.  The  landscape  back- 
ground in  the  Louvre  drawing  is  quite  in  Giulio’s  manner,  but  the  drawing  of  the  figure  and  the  quality 
of  the  wash  are  those  of  a follower  of  Titian  and  certainly  later  than  the  print.  Galichon  explained  the 
case  by  assuming  the  landscape  to  be  Giulio’s  original  study  for  that  part  of  the  composition  which  he 
did  not  borrow  from  Mantegna,  and  the  figure  to  have  been  added  later  by  Domenico.  Dr.  Gronau 
agrees,  but  Prof.  Venturi  seems  to  regard  the  whole  sheet  as  later.  On  the  whole  I am  inclined  to  regard 


294 


the  whole  of  the  drawing  as  a copy  from  the  print,  though  the  close  assimilation  of  the  landscape  to 
Giulio’s  delicate  style,  and  the  vigorous  and  open  drawing  of  the  figure,  are  curiously  dissonant  ele- 
ments if  by  the  same  hand.”  (H.  p.  494.) 


No.  97.  GANYMEDE. 

Hind.  p.  494,  3. 

B.  XIII.  372,  s. 

First  state,  before  the  word  Antenoreus  was  added  to  the  signa- 
ture near  the  upper  right  corner. 

(163  X 122) 

Fine  impression  on  brownish  paper;  repaired. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  P.  Mariette,  J.  Reiss,  J.  S.  Mor- 
gan and  Brayton  Ives  Collections. 

“The  landscape  is  copied  closely  from  Diirer’s  Virgin  and  Child  with  the  Monkey  (B.  42).  The 
clump  of  trees  in  the  centre  has  been  inserted  to  fill  the  place  occupied  in  the  original  by  the  body  of 
the  Virgin.  Dtirer’s  plate  is  probably  as  early  as  1500.”  (H.  p.  493.) 

No.  98.  THE  YOUNG  SHEPHERD. 

Hind.  p.  495,  5. 

B.  XIII.  373,  6. 

Second  state,  shadow  and  tone  added  by  delicate  flick  and  dot 
work. 

(133  X79) 

Brilliant  impression;  condition  unusually  fine. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  Collection. 


No.  99.  THE  ASTROLOGER. 

Hind.  p.  496,  6. 

B.  XIII.  375,  8 (copy  C). 

Second  state,  with  the  dotted  work,  but  before  the  inscription 
Ludovicus  Longus  Matheseos  professor  and  the  number  jpj  and  be- 
fore the  date  1509  was  changed  to  1569. 

(98X  iss) 

Good  impression. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  J.  S.  Morgan  and  Brayton  Ives 
Collections. 


295 


No.  loo.  THE  ASTROLOGER  (Copy  of  No.  99). 

Hind.  p.  497,  6*. 

B.  XIII.  375,  8 (original). 

P.  V.  165,  8 (copy  A). 

This  copy,  although  in  reverse,  preserves  the  character  of  the 
original,  as  comparison  with  No.  99  will  show. 

(95  X iss) 

Good  impression,  with  margin,  in  grayish  ink. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection;  formerly  in  the 
J.  Reiss  Collection. 


No.  loi.  THE  OLD  SHEPHERD. 

Hind.  p.  497,  7. 

P.  V.  164,  7. 

(75  X 130) 

Fair  early  impression  in  brownish  ink. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection.  British  Museum 
duplicate. 

No.  102.  WOMAN  RECLINING  IN  A LANDSCAPE. 

Hind.  p.  498,  8. 

P.  V.  i6s,  II. 

(120  X 182) 

Fine  early  impression. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  J.  Reiss  and  Francis  Bullard  Collections. 


No  103.  SHEPHERDS  IN  A LANDSCAPE. 

Hind.  p.  499,  II. 

B.  XIII.  383,  9 (D.  Campagnola). 

P.  V.  168,  9. 

(135x255) 

Very  fine  early  impression,  showing  plate-line;  fine  condition. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  Baron  von  Lanna  and  Brayton 
Ives  Collections. 

“The  original  drawing  in  reverse  for  the  r.  half  of  this  print  is  in  the  Louvre:  . . . Dr.  Gronau 
makes  out  a quite  convincing  case  for  attributing  it  to  Giulio  Campagnola.  Galichon  was  clearly  right 
in  regarding  the  corresponding  portion  of  the  print  as  the  work  of  Giulio  himself,  while  the  group  of 
trees  and  figures  to  the  left  bears  every  mark  of  Domenico’s  hand  and  style.  The  supposition  that  the 
plate  was  left  unfinished  by  Giulio  and  finished  after  his  death  by  Domenico  is  confirmed  by  the  early 
stale  of  the  copy  . . .,  which  reproduces  just  the  part  attributed  to  the  former  engraver  . . .”  (H. 

p.  500.) 


2Q6 


No.  95.  Christ  and  the  Woman  of  Samaria,  by  Giulio  Campagnola. 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


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No,  96,  St.  John  the  Baptist,  by  Giulio  Campagnola. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


No.  97.  Ganymede,  by  Giulio  Campagnola. 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


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CAMPAGNOLA 


No.  98.  The  Young  Shepherd,  by  Giulio  Campagnola. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


No.  loo.  The  Astrologer.  (Copy  of  No.  99.) 
Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


No.  99.  The  Astrologer,  by  Giulio 
Campagnola. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


No.  loi.  The  Old  Shepherd,  by  Giulio  Campagnola. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


No.  102.  Woman  Reclining  in  a Landscape,  by  Giulio  Campagnola, 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


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No.  103.  Shepherds  in  a Landscape,  by  Giulio  and  Domenico  Campagnola. 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


DOMENICO  CAMPAGNOLA 


Bibliography: 

Hind.  p.  501  ff. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  pp.  377-387. 

Passavant.  V.  (1864),  167-173. 

Crowe  and  Cavalcaselle.  Titian.  I.  (1877),  pp.  127-140. 

Nagler,  G.  K.  Die  Monogrammisten.  I.  2228,  II.  877  and  1004. 

“ Pupil  of  Giulio  Campagnola;  working  in  Padua  from  15 1 1 until  after  1563 . The  manifold  char- 
acter of  the  works  attributed  to  him,  paintings,  pen-drawings,  line-engravings,  and  woodcuts,  has  caused 
an  unreasonable  amount  of  speculation  with  regard  to  the  artist’s  biography  and  identity.  Nagler  con- 
cluded that  there  were  two  artists  of  the  name:  first  the  engraver  of  1517-18,  and  then  the  painter  and 
draughtsman  closely  influenced  by  Titian,  whom  he  assumed,  on  Brandolese’s  evidence,  to  have  been 
working  as  late  as  1581  in  Padua.  The  woodcuts  bearing  the  name  of  Domenico  Campagnola  Nagler 
divided  between  these  two  personalities  according  to  the  amount  of  Titianesque  feeling  shown  in  them. 
There  is  no  foundation  for  such  a division,  and  nothing  surprising  in  the  fact  that  the  artist,  who  is 
known  to  have  been  working  in  Padua  for  over  half  a century  after  15 ii,  should  have  done  his  engraved 
work  almost  entirely  in  the  period  about  1517-18.  His  only  two  dated  plates  belong  to  these  years, 
and  the  remainder  are  so  like  them  that  they  are  no  doubt  of  much  the  same  period. 

His  connexion  with  Giulio  Campagnola  is  most  clearly  demonstrated  in  the  plate  of  the  Shep- 
herds in  a Landscape  (No.  103),  where  an  unfinished  composition  by  Giulio  has  been  completed  by 
Domenico.  , To  work  upon  this  plate,  Domenico  must  doubtless  have  possessed  it,  and  the  fact  seems 
to  show  that  he  was  Giulio’s  artistic  heir,  and  on  that  account  almost  certainly  a pupil,  if  not  a close 
relation.  It  is  at  least  unlikely  that  he  would  have  collaborated  on  a plate  by  Giulio  during  the  latter’s 
lifetime;  and  if  we  are  to  date  his  share  in  it,  like  his  other  engraved  work,  about  1517-18,  the  probability 
is  strengthened  that  Giulio’s  death  occurred  not  long  after  the  last  recorded  notice  of  him  in  1515.  Do- 
menico was  already  doing  important  work  as  a painter  in  15 1 1,  acting  as  Titian’s  assistant  in  frescoes 
in  the  Scuola  del  Carmine,  the  Scuoia  del  Santo  and  on  the  facade  of  the  Palazzo  Cornaro  in  Padua. 
Hence  he  could  not  have  well  been  more,  and  may  have  been  less,  than  ten  years  Giulio’s  junior.  He 
is  explicitly  styled  Giulio’s  pupil  by  the  Anonimo  of  Morelli.  . . . 

In  the  technical  character  of  his  line  engravings  Domenico’s  dependence  on  Giulio  is  very  slight. 
He  does  not  use  flick-work  except  very  sparingly  in  the  half  shadov/s,  and  his  line  has  none  of  Giulio’s 
precision.  Neither  his  drawing  nor  his  modelling  is  strong,  and  he  is  apt  both  to  confuse  his  composi- 
tions and  lose  the  essentials  of  form  in  an  affected  system  of  curved  lines.  In  expressing  human  form  he 
over-defines  and  over-accentuates  muscle  and  sinew  with  imperfect  understanding,  to  the  detriment 
of  general  balance.  In  his  system  of  hatching  he  has  something  of  the  tentative  irregularity  of  Robetta, 
but  like  the  Florentine  artist  succeeds  in  preserving  an  attractive  style  in  spite  of  his  defects.  He  has  a 
particular  affection  for  clusters  of  long  lines  directed  in  parallel  sinuous  curves  (a  characteristic  also  of 
his  innumerable  pen-drawings  of  pastoral  scenes  and  landscape);  sometimes  he  achieves  remarkable 
effects  by  this  means  (especially  in  his  skies),  . . . which  seems  to  anticipate  some  of  the  romantic 
feeling  of  Salvator  Rosa.  He  appears  not  to  have  scraped  the  burr  very  clearly  from  his  engraved  line, 
as  early  impressions  possess  a rich  tone  like  that  of  dry-point.”  (H.  pp.  501-504.) 


No.  104.  THE  DESCENT  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT. 

Hind.  p.  505,  4. 

B.  XIII.  380,  3- 


313 


Second  state  (?)  with  the  date. 

(Nearly  round;  width  174,  height  188.) 

Fair  impression. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection. 


No.  105.  THE  BEHEADING  OF  ST.  CATHERINE. 

Hind.  p.  506,  7. 

B.  XIII.  381,6. 

(Nearly  a circle:  height  185,  width  174.) 

Good  strong  impression. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University;  formerly  in  the  J.  S.  Morgan  Col- 
lection. 


No.  106.  BATTLE  OF  NAKED  MEN. 

Hind.  p.  506,  8. 

B.  XHI.  384,  10. 

(223  X 23 l) 

Fine  impression  with  margin. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  J.  S.  Morgan  Collection. 


No.  107.  NAKED  WOMAN  IN  A LANDSCAPE. 

Hind.  p.  507,  10. 

B.  XHI.  382,  7. 

(94x134) 

Good  impression  on  brown  paper.  Condition  not  good. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection;  formerly  in  the 
J.  Reiss  Collection. 

In  the  British  Aluseum  there  is  the  original  drawing  in  reverse  for 
this  engraving.  , 


No.  104.  The  Descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  Domenico  Campagnola. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Camuridge. 


No.  105.  The  Beheading  of  St.  Catherine,  by  Domenico  Campagnola. 
Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


No,  io6.  Battle  of  Naked  Men,  by  Doi^ienico  Campagnola. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


Bibliography: 


& 


Hind.  p.  515  ff. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  pp.  354-361. 

Crowe  and  Cavalcaselle.  History  of  Painting  in  North  Italy.  II. 
(1871),  pp.  189  ff. 


“The  identity  of  this  engraver  is  uncertain.  His  work  bears  a distinctly  Ferrarese  stamp,  resem- 
bling in  style  that  of  Ercole  Robert!  and  Lorenzo  Costa,  and  probably  dates  from  or  very  little  before  or 
after  the  first  decade  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Harzen  attempted  to  identify  him  with  Martino  da 
Udine  (better  known  as  Pellegrino  da  San  Daniele),  but  Giovanni  Morelli  derided  the  hypothesis  as 
having  no  further  support  than  the  occurrence  of  a signature  somewhat  resembling  our  engraver’s  on 
one  of  Pellegrino’s  pictures  {The  Annunciation  of  1519  in  the  Academy,  Venice).  Pellegrino  worked 
chiefly  at  Udine  and  San  Daniele.  Documentary  notices  of  him  range  between  the  years  1487-1547. 
The  earliest  of  his  extant  works  reflect  something  of  the  style  of  Cima,  but  Giorgione  and  Pordenone 
become  later  the  predominant  influences.  He  visited  Ferrara  at  various  times  between  1504  and  1512, 
but  no  preserved  paintings  justify  the  assumption  that  he  ever  assimilated  Ferrarese  style  closely  enough 
to  have  produced  works  like  those  of  the  present  engraver,  who  must  accordingly  remain  unidentified 
pending  fresh  evidence.”  (H.  p.  515.) 

No.  108.  DISCIPLES  LAMENTING  OVER  THE  BODY  OF 
CHRIST. 


Hind.  p.  517,  I. 

B.  XIII.  361.  [Appendice.] 

Second  state;  close  flick- work  added  throughout  the  plate,  a 
great  part  of  the  line-work  having  been  previously  worn  or  burnished 
away. 

(203  X 165) 

Very  fine  impression,  in  splendid  condition. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  H.  S.  Theobald  and  Brayton  Ives 
Collections. 

“The  seated  man  in  the  foreground  r.  seems  to  have  been  suggested  by  a figure  in  Benedetto  Mon- 
tagna’s Apollo  and  Pan  (B.  M.  No.  37),  or  by  the  corresponding  figure  in  the  1497  Venice  edition  of 
Ovid’s  Metamorphoses.  The  two  figures  standing  farthest  to  the  1.  also  recall  the  style  of  Montagna. 
The  landscape  is  closely  related  to  that  of  “The  Master  I.  B.  with  the  Bird”  among  the  engravers,  and 
to  the  Ferrara-Bologna  school  in  general.”  (H.  p.  517.) 


323 


I 


1 

J 

'1 

' i 


i 


i 

.1 


i 


i 


No.  io8.  Disciples  Lamenting  over  the  Body  of  Christ,  by  the  Master  .PP 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


I-  I-  CA 


Bibliography: 

Hind.  p.  526. 

Passavant.  V.  pp.  160-162. 

Nagler.  Monogrammisten.  I.  2231. 

Nothing  is  known  about  this  master.  In  spite  of  various  conjec- 
tures by  Bartsch,  Ottley  and  others,  the  problem  is  one  still  to  be 
solved  by  future  research.  Besides  the  rare  print  here  shown,  only 
one  other  plate  by  the  same  perplexing  hand  is  known,  a St.  Lucy, 
impressions  of  which  are  to  be  found  in  Vienna,  Paris  and  Dresden. 
Purely  from  the  internal  evidence  of  style,  the  master  in  all  probabil- 
ity belongs  to  the  school  of  Bologna. 

No.  109.  THE  NATIVITY. 

Hind.  p.  526,  I . 

B.  XIII.  370,  I (G.  Campagnola). 

P.  V.  161,  I. 

(289  X 237) 

Fair  early  impression  in  grayish  ink.  Condition  excellent. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs. 


327 


.•■•■  . *'■  .■  ' ■■•  ,'•••■  ■ 


Sk . 


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vl 

OkSS 


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. ,.  ..;  A^ 


J.-I- 


’ 'T'Yo!;®';-. 


No.  109.  The  Nativity,  by  the  Master  I.I.CA. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


NA  T DAT 

(WITH  THE  RAT-TRAP) 

Bibliography:  ^ 

Hind.  p.  S3 1 ff. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  (i8ii),  pp.  362-366. 

Passavant.  V.  (1864),  pp.  173-174. 

Nagler.  Monogrammisten.  IV.  No.  2312.  V.  786. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  previous  master,  we  are  completely  in  the 
dark  about  the  name  and  history  of  this  artist.  Three  plates  by  this 
hand  are  known  to  students,  and  impressions  from  two  of  these  are 
included  in  this  exhibition.  The  work  shows  evidence  of  being  of 
Bolognese  origin. 

No.  no.  THE  VIRGIN  AND  CHILD  WITH  ST.  ANNE. 

Hind.  p.  S3I,  i. 

B.  XIII.  364,  I. 

(146  X 215) 

The  impression  and  condition  are  fair. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard  from  the  Francis  Bullard  Collection;  formerly  in  the 
J.  Reiss  Collection. 

No.  III.  THE  TWO  ARMIES  AT  THE  BATTLE  OF  RA- 
VENNA. 

Hind.  p.  332,  2. 

B.  XIII.  36s,  2. 

Second  state ; the  scroll  by  the  rat-trap  lengthened,  and  the  date 
1530  added;  the  plate  reworked. 

(148x218) 

Weak  impression,  in  good  condition. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University;  formerly  in  the  Angiolini  and  Brayton 
Ives  Collections. 

“Ottley  states  that  the  impression  in  the  Royal  Library,  Vienna,  bore  an  inscription  on  the  reverse, 
Rota  de  Ravena,  1512.  Friedrich  von  Bartsch  in  his  Catalogue  of  the  Prints  in  that  collection  refers  to 


331 


Ottley  and  states  that  the  inscription  was  once  on  the  impression.  Dr.  Dornhoffer  writes  that  there  is  at 
present  no  trace  of  such  inscription  on  the  back,  and  only  the  faintest  suggestion  of  what  once  might  have 
been  the  word  Ravenna  beneath  the  rat  on  the  front.  The  inscription  quoted  by  Ottley  may  have  been 
on  a separate  slip  pasted  at  the  back  of  the  print  and  since  removed.  In  any  case  Rotta  di  Ravenna, 
i.e.  the  Battle  or  Rout  of  Ravenna,  absolutely  fits  the  intrinsic  evidence  supplied  by  the  print  itself. 
The  standards  show  the  French  in  the  foreground;  the  horseman  with  rich  accoutrements  1.  possibly  rep- 
resents Louis  XII,  and  the  foremost  figure  r.,  beneath  the  standard  with  the  bull,  may  be  intended  for 
Gaston  de  Foix,  who  was  killed  in  the  moment  of  victory.  The  banners  of  Spain  and  Rovere  beyond 
the  stream  mark  the  army  opposing  the  French  as  that  of  the  Confederates;  Ferdinand  the  Catholic 
and  Pope  Julius  II  (Giuliano  della  Rovere)  supplying  the  most  important  contingents.  The  Venetians 
and  Swiss  also  furnished  contingents,  but  the  standards  give  no  clear  indication  of  their  divisions. 
The  print  was  most  likely  engraved  very  soon  after  the  event.  The  second  state,  with  the  date  1530, 
is  only  found  in  weak  impressions,  and  the  date  mtiy  well  have  been  added  a good  many  years  after  the 
original  issue. 

There  is  an  early  drawing  after  this  print  in  Hamburg  (attributed  to  Campagnola).”  (H.  p.  533.) 


332 


No.  no.  The  Virgin  and  Child  with  St.  Anne,  by  the  Master  NAtDAT. 

Lent  by  Miss  Katherine  Bullard,  Boston. 


r. 


Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


MASTER  I.  B.  WITH  THE  BIRD 


Bibliography : 

Hind.  p.  535  ff.  * 

Zani.  Materiali  (1802),  p.  134,  Note  56. 

Bartsch.  XIII.  (1811),  pp.  244-251. 

Passavant.  V.  (1864),  pp.  149-153. 

Venturi,  A.  Gli  orafi  da  Porto.  Archivio  Storico  Italiano,  Disp.  5a  del 
Tom  XX.  (1887).  Florence. 

Lippmann,  F.  The  Woodcuts  of  the  Master  I B with  the  Bird.  Inter- 
national Chalcographical  Society.  1894. 

Lippmann,  F.  Wood-engraving  in  Italy  in  the  Fifteenth  Century.  Lon- 
don, 1888  (pp.  173  ff.). 

Again  the  master’s  identity  is  shrouded  in  mystery.  There  are 
no  definite  facts  available;  only  various  interesting  conjectures  by 
Zani,  Venturi,  Mariette,  Kristeller,  Lippmann,  and  others.  The 
master  had  undoubted  contact  with  Durer  or  his  work,  and  cer- 
tainly borrowed  the  type  of  his  landscapes  from  the  great  Northerner. 

“Though  landscape  and  accessories  in  the  prints  of  ‘The  Master  I.  B.  with  the  Bird’  are  marked 
by  Bolognese  character,  his  figures  never  show  the  same  origin  so  distinctly  that  we  could  without  fur- 
ther evidence  place  him,  as  we  can  Marcantonio,  as  a pupil  of  Francia.  He  is  a far  more  eclectic  spirit, 
reminding  one  now  of  Mantegna,  now  of  Nicoletto,  now  of  Marcantonio,  and  now  of  Sodoma;  so  that 
until  further  documentary  evidence  is  found  we  cannot  localize  him  more  exactly  than  in  the  school  of 
the  Emilia.”  (H.  p.  537.) 

No.  1 12.  LEDA  AND  HER  CHILDREN. 

Hind.  p.  538,  3. 

B.  XIII.  246,  3. 

(iS7x  128) 

Fine  early  impression,  showing  plate-line  except  at  upper  right 
corner. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  A.  Firmin-Didot  and  J.  S.  Morgan  Collections. 

No.  113.  THE  RAPE  OF  EUROPA. 

Hind.  p.  539,  4. 

B.  XIII.  246,  4. 

(187  X 144) 


337 


Good  impression,  showing  plate-line.  Condition  very  good. 

Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston;  formerly  in  the  H.  F.  Sewall  Collection. 

No.  1 14.  ROMA. 

Hind.  p.  540,  8.  ' 

P.  V.  150,  7. 

(219  X 154) 

Brilliant  strong  impression,  with  plate-line. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Albert  Scholle,  New  York;  formerly  in  the  Brayton  Ives  Collection. 


I 


338 


No.  1 1 2.  Leda  and  her  Children,  by  the  Master  I B with  the  Bird. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


No.  1 13.  The  Raps  of  Europa,  by  the  Master  I B with  the  Bird 
Lent  by  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston. 


No.  1 14.  Roma,  by  the  Master  I B with  the  Bird, 
Lent  by  Mr.  Albert  Schoile,  New  York. 


JACOPO  FRANCIA  (RAIBOLINI) 


Bibliography: 

Hind.  p.  S43  ff. 

Bartsch.  XV.  pp.  455-460  (7  Nos.). 

Passavant.  V.  pp.  222-225. 

“Goldsmith,  painter,  and  engraver,  son  of  Francesco  Francia;  b.  Bologna  before  1487;  pupil  and 
assistant  of  his  father:  from  1518  dated  pictures  are  known  bearing  his  own  signature,  sometimes  in 
conjunction  with  that  of  his  brother  Giulio  . . .:  died  Bologna  1557.”  (H.  p.  543.) 

No.  IIS.  the  five  saints. 

Hind.  p.  544,  i. 

B.  XV.  456,  I. 

(260x235) 

Good,  rather  lightly-printed  impression.  The  signature  in  lower 
left  corner  intact. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Alfred  Morrison  Collection. 

No.  1 16.  THE  HOLY  FAMILY. 

Hind.  p.  545,  2. 

B.  XV.  457,  2. 

(229  X 256) 

Good  impression,  showing  plate-line. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University;  formerly  in  the  Prince  Rostowsky 
Collection. 

No.  1 17.  LUCRETIA. 

Hind.  p.  546,  4. 

B.  XV.  458,  4- 

Third  state,  heavily  reworked.  Almost  all  of  the  background 
shaded  in  horizontals  and  on  the  right  a barred  window. 

(258  X 177) 

Weak  impression. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  J.  Reiss  and  Brayton  Ives  Collections. 

345 


“The  main  part  of  the  figure  closely  corresponds  in  reverse  with  Marcantonio’s  Woman  watering 
a Plant  (B.  383),  which  belongs  to  his  Bolognese  period  (i.e.  before  1510).  The  head,  shoulders,  arms, 
and  drapery  are  treated  by  Francia  differently.  Both  engravers  may  have  borrowed  from  a common 
source,  but  it  is  more  likely  that  Jacopo  Francia  followed  Marcantonio.  One  element  in  the  new  treat- 
ment, the  manner  in  which  the  dagger  is  held  horizontally  directed  towards  the  body,  may  have  been 
suggested  to  him  by  the  Lucretia  (B.  192)  which  is  one  of  the  earliest  plates  produced  by  Marcantonio 
in  Rome.”  (H.  p.  546.) 

No.  1 18.  VENUS  AND  CUPID. 

Hind.  p.  547,  6. 

B.  XV.  459,  6. 

(228  X 149) 

Good  impression,  showing  plate-line,  but  from  v/hat  appears  to  be 
a reworked  plate;  pricked  for  transfer. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs. 


No.  1 19.  BACCHUS  AND  HIS  ATTENDANTS. 

Hind.  p.  547,  7. 

B.  XV.  646,  7. 

(252x305) 

Fair  impression,  in  good  condition. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  Baron  von  Lonna  and  Brayton  Ives  Collections. 

The  composition  is  evidently  suggested  by  an  antique  relief. 


346 


No.  iij.  The  Five  Saints,  by  Jacopo  Francia. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


i---;-.'V;r 

' '-'M  ''  I 


;•  ♦ 


-T" 


S 


t 


• - * * TwSt  « 


'•*. 


ii6.  The  Holy  Family,  by  Jacopo  Francia. 

Lent  by  the  Fogg  Art  Museum,  Harvard  University. 


No.  1 17.  Lucretia,  by  Jacopo  Francia. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


/ 


r 


No.  ii8.  Venus  and  Cupid,  by  Jacopo  Francia. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


No.  1 19.  Bacchus  and  his  Attendants,  by  Jacopo  Francia. 
Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs,  Cambridge. 


ADDENDA 


(Prints  received  too  late  for  reproduction.) 

No.  I.  PEREGRINO  DA  CESENA. 

Abraham  Departing  for  Moriah.  (Niello.) 

Duch.  lo. 

(so  X 46) 

Fine  impression. 

Lent  by  Mr.  R.  Ederheimer,  N.  Y.;  formerly  in  the  Charles  Wickert  Collection. 

No.  2.  ENGRAVER  UNKNOWN. 

St.  Jerome. 

H.  p.  314,  16. 

B.  XV.  472,  13  {Reverdino). 

(222  X 172) 

Fair  impression,  probably  modern. 

Lent  by  Mr.  Paul  J.  Sachs;  formerly  in  the  J.  S.  Morgan  Collection. 

“It  is  the  work  of  a third-rate  craftsman  of  the  sixteenth  century  and  almost  defies  classification.” 

(H.  p.  314-) 

No.  3.  NICOLETTO  DA  MODENA. 

The  Fate  of  the  Evil  Tongue 

H.  p.  430,  31. 

B.  XIII.  276,  37. 

(293  X 204) 

Good  impression. 

Lent  by  Mr.  R.  Ederheimer,  N.  Y.;  formerly  in  the  Charles  Wickert  Collection. 

“The  suggestion  for  the  group  of  trees  seems  to  have  been  drawn  from  Diirer’s  early  engravings 
and  woodcuts,  e.g.  in  particular  the  Great  Hercules  (B.  73),  which  dates  not  later  than  1500.  . . . 

This  is  one  of  the  most  important  and  highly  finished  engravings  of  the  master  and  belongs  to 
the  transitional  period  introducing  the  last  manner.  Trees  and  landscape  are  beginning  to  take  a more 
important  place,  but  the  artist  has  still  to  develop  the  regular  system  of  cross-hatching  derived  from 
his  study  of  Diirer.”  (H.  p.  431.) 


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